


Spider-Man: Extinction

by Spideyfan62



Series: Peter Parker's Senior Year Survival [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Awesome May Parker (Spider-Man), Awesome Michelle Jones, Because He's Just Out There Trying His Best, Everything Else Happened Though, F/M, Guys This Is Going To Be A RIDE, Insane Norman Osborn, Ned Leeds is a Good Bro, Norman Osborn Being a Jerk, Not Spider-Man: Far From Home Mid-Credits Scene Compliant, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Post-Spider-Man: Far From Home, Spideychelle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:40:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 17
Words: 44,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24372175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spideyfan62/pseuds/Spideyfan62
Summary: He had just finished the last of his assignments when he heard a knock at the door. May was out working late that evening, so Peter got up to answer the door himself. He opened it to perhaps the most unwelcome sight there could be: Norman Osborn."Hello Peter. Would you mind if I came in?" Norman asked, gesturing his right hand towards the inside of the apartment.
Relationships: Betty Brant/Ned Leeds, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones & Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Michelle Jones/Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker
Series: Peter Parker's Senior Year Survival [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1761355
Comments: 91
Kudos: 37





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go guys! I've been looking forward to sharing this one with you all. I have poured a lot of time into this one, and I will continue to revisit it as I go along. Also, I decided to do away with chapter titles; for some reason they were hard to come up with on last story, so I opted to keep it simple to be able to focus more on the story itself. 
> 
> A sequel to Spider-Man: Adaptive Traits. 
> 
> Anyway, enjoy!

Peter walked up the stairs and into school. It had been a week since Thanksgiving, which meant that the air was starting to get cold. It was nothing he wasn't used to, having lived in New York all his life, but that didn't mean that he wasn't happy to be indoors. 

"Hey bro!" Ned called out, and Peter came up to his best friend, greeting him with their trademark secret handshake. Peter noticed Betty standing next to Ned through the corner of his vision, shaking her head at them.

"I still don't think I'll ever get that down," Betty said. 

"That's because it's our special handshake," Ned said, and Peter couldn't help but smile with his best friend. He and Ned had been best friends since middle school, and their secret handshake had been a staple of it the whole time. 

"So when is M.J. supposed to be coming back anyway?" Betty asked. "I need someone on my side if I'm going to be around you boys all day." 

"Her suspension should be over next week," Peter answered. 

"You never know man," Ned offered, teasingly hitting Peter's arm with his elbow, "maybe you'll get an early Christmas miracle." This prompted Betty to shoot a glare at Ned, and Peter started to get a little suspicious of his friends. 

"Alright guys, what's going on here?" he asked, looking back and forth at the two of them. 

"Come on, Peter," came a familiar voice from behind him, "you know Thing 2 can't keep a secret to save his life." 

"M.J?" Peter said before he even completely turned around. Sure enough, there she was, in all her deadpan, sarcastic beauty. Their eyes met, and OF COURSE Peter noticed the corners of her lips turning upwards to form a contained smile, which was all it took to make his heart skip a beat and cause his breath to catch in his throat. 

"Hey, dork," she responded. Peter met her halfway and they gave each other a quick kiss before embracing each other in a hug. 

"Eww, gross," Peter heard his best friend tease. He and M.J. pulled away from their hug and turned he turned to face Ned. 

"Really dude; like you wouldn't be even worse if it was her coming back?" Peter said, gesturing to Betty. He was deeply satisfied when his best friend blushed hard and suddenly was at a loss for words. 

"Did I mention how good it is to have you back?" Betty said, walking up and also giving M.J. a hug. 

"No, but I already knew that anyway," M.J. said as the two girls embraced briefly before pulling away. 

"How did you get off your suspension early anyway?" Peter asked. It wouldn't have completely surprised him if his girlfriend had just shown up just to make a point, but she was more level headed than that, usually. 

"Your aunt, actually," she responded. Peter tilted his head ever so slightly to the left and gave M.J. an inquisitive look, prompting her to continue. "It turns out that while we were at Thanksgiving, her and my mom talked some stuff over and worked to rally some other parents to call the school board and offer their thoughts on how one sided a manner the situation was handled. Next thing you know, my mom got the call yesterday that my suspension was over. I apologize for the cloak and dagger of it all; Betty and Ned were supposed to grab your attention and keep you distracted, so I could come from behind and surprise you." 

"It certainly worked," Peter said. He made a mental note to thank May the next time he saw her. 

The first half of the school day went as usual. Classes were normal, with some more interesting than others. Peter got death looks from Brad, especially now that M.J. was back early, but he made a point to ignore him. Still, he couldn't help but wonder how long it would take for Brad's parents to call in and complain about the way their dollars donated to the school were being rewarded again. He shut the thought out of his mind quickly, opting to enjoy his girlfriend's presence in the hallways and the classes they shared again. It was just so good to have her back. He still had Ned, and Betty had been really kind as well, but Peter couldn't help but think about her a lot during her suspension. All of these thoughts just kept reminding him how BAD he had it for her. Yep, he was a lost cause, and he knew it. 

"So, what have I missed?" M.J. asked as the four of them sat down for lunch. "Peter made sure I was up to speed on schoolwork, but nothing else." 

"That's because it's high school, M.J." Ned answered her. "The most interesting thing here is the cafeteria when they offer something good on occasion." 

"See?" Peter said, gesturing to his friend while looking at his girlfriend. "I told you." 

"Oh come on, guys," Betty spoke up, "there's plenty that's interesting here! The guys basketball team won their game yesterday, 57-53, and..."

"Betty, you're just confirming Ned's point," M.J. responded, and Peter couldn't help but think her face was the most perfect deadpan expression ever. Then again, her face was the most perfect one ever, so this was no surprise. 

"Oh my goodness dude, FOCUS!" he yelled at himself internally. 

"What? I'm a reporter; I have to be interested in everything," Betty defended. Hearing someone speak again helped fully bring Peter back to reality. 

"No, it means you have to PRETEND to be interested in everything. There's a difference," M.J. responded. 

"Here I was looking forward to you being on my side once you got back," Betty said with a small pout. 

"Don't worry Betty; you still often make more interesting conversation than these two," M.J. teased, looking at both Ned and Peter. 

"Excuse me, our conversations are very interesting, thank you," Peter retorted. 

"I didn't say never, but when you nerds get on a roll about Star Wars, Alien, etc, it's too much sometimes," M.J. said, offering a playful smile. Man, she was in rare form today. It's like she had been saving all of her sarcasm, wit and charm for her return, and it was all causing Peter's brain to short circuit a bit. What made it worse was the knowing looks she gave him as their discussion persisted. He could see in her eyes that she KNEW what she was doing and she was loving every second of it. Peter felt like he should be a little upset with her, if not for the fact that all of this was so M.J. and it just kept making his heart do somersaults in his chest. Mercifully, lunch was over before they all knew it, and they all dispersed to their classes. Peter was almost grateful; much more of that, and his brain might've been lost to the point of no recovery! 

After school, Peter went straight home to begin working on his homework. Doctor Connors was having the lab undergo a deep clean, so he had the afternoon off. The good doctor's wife, being a nurse and all that, had apparently convinced him early on in their marriage to have his lab and all equipment in it cleaned before and after winter to protect from getting sick. Granted, it was no concern of Peter's; he hadn't been sick even once since he got his powers. However, the doc was resigned to his wife's medical expertise and persistence, so he would simply take advantage of this opportunity to get his homework done early before he went out on patrol. Criminals tended to come out to play later in the day, and for once Peter would have the luxury of being able to go straight to bed when he got back for a change. 

He had just finished the last of his assignments when he heard a knock at the door. May was out working late that evening, so Peter got up to answer the door himself. He opened it to perhaps the most unwelcome sight there could be: Norman Osborn. 

"Hello Peter. Would you mind if I came in?" Norman asked, gesturing his right hand towards the inside of the apartment. 

Peter really didn't want to, but for the sake of being polite, he opened the door wider. "Come on in," he said, forcing the best smile he could onto his face. 

"Thank you," Norman answered, walking in. "I don't intend to stay for long, I just want to discuss something with you." 

"Please," Peter said, gesturing towards the chair in the living room. Norman acknowledged the invitation, moving to sit there while Peter took a spot on the end of the couch. 

"Peter, I believe you and I got off on the wrong foot the first time we met," Norman began, looking Peter directly in the eyes. He matched the businessman's gaze. 

"I'm sure that you heard about what happened with Michelle's mother. I just want you to understand where I am coming from. Peter, I'm a businessman. I have to make decisions that are not only in my own interests, but in the interests of everyone who works for or is affiliated with Oscorp. Now, if I let something like this go on, and it is eventually found out, that would cause the loss of a lot of business, which means the loss of a lot of people's jobs. Does that make sense so far?" 

"Yes sir," Peter said. He did understand what Norman was saying, but his inside knowledge of the situation was only making his blood boil with every word the man said. It was taking all the self control he had not to clench his fists in rage. Nevertheless, he maintained his composure as the man continued. 

"I also could have pressed charges against her, but I didn't. I'm sure the action I did take seemed harsh, but I only felt it was appropriate that other potential employers know of this, so that they could make the best decision for their companies. Now, I understand your aunt hired her on where she works right?" 

"That's right," Peter responded, and a bit of a satisfied smile briefly escaped his lips before he returned to his focused look once more. 

"Make no mistake, I am truly happy that she has found someone willing to take a chance on her, but that doesn't mean I don't still want what is rightfully mine returned," Osborn said, the softness and politeness still being maintained in his voice. 

"You mean the money," Peter said, less as a question and more of the statement Norman seemed to be beating around the bush about. 

"To the point; I admire that," Norman said, a smile escaping his lips, which sent shivers down Peter's spine. "Look, from one scientist and hard worker to another, I wonder if you could help me...if you could persuade her to see my point of view. You have influence on that family, right?" 

"I don't really feel like that's my place, sir," Peter responded. There was a lot more that he wanted to say, but because he was raised right, he refrained. 

"Peter, I'm really trying to be gracious here," Norman persisted, and Peter noticed his tone shift more towards authoritative. "I don't want to have to take more drastic action, but I will if required." 

"Mr. Osborn, I don't tolerate threats here," Peter stated, rising from his seat on the couch. He was the man of the house, and he was going to act like it. "If there is nothing else, I would appreciate it if you left. I have a lot of work to do." 

Norman stared at Peter for a minute, letting out a bit of a sigh before standing up. He walked to the door, and Peter opened it, trying his best to be polite until the end. 

"Peter," Norman said, turning to face him from the doorway, "there may come a time in your life when you want me as an ally. I really hope you will reconsider, because I promise you, if you don't, there will be consequences."

With that, he walked out the door, and Peter closed it behind him. Did Norman Osborn just threaten him? After a moment of just staring at nothing, lost in thought, he went upstairs. He put on his Spider-Man suit and jumped out the window, firing a web to begin his nightly patrol. 

Along the way, maybe he would do some further investigating into one Norman Osborn.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After he had left the Parker residence, Norman had driven straight to the old, abandoned building where his secret lab was hidden beneath. Accessing the private elevator he had installed, he entered and began his descent down to the lab. On his way down, his mind couldn't help but return to one Peter Parker. Since first learning of the boy's acquiring a position as the lab assistant to none other than Doctor Curtis Connors, he had made a point to do some research on the him. Other than being tardy from time to time, the boy showed excellent potential: 4.0 GPA, helped his team win the national title in academic decathlon as a freshman, had won various science fair prizes, etc. The boy was a protege, that much was clear. It was the kind of talent Norman wanted to employ at Oscorp one day, and when he learned that the boy was dating the daughter of his assistant at the time, it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter: a little Norman being evil, a little Peter being Spider-Man, and an introduction to a new player on the side of justice.

After he had left the Parker residence, Norman had driven straight to the old, abandoned building where his secret lab was hidden beneath. Accessing the private elevator he had installed, he entered and began his descent down to the lab. On his way down, his mind couldn't help but return to one Peter Parker. Since first learning of the boy's acquiring a position as the lab assistant to none other than Doctor Curtis Connors, he had made a point to do some research on the him. Other than being tardy from time to time, the boy showed excellent potential: 4.0 GPA, helped his team win the national title in academic decathlon as a freshman, had won various science fair prizes, etc. The boy was a protege, that much was clear. It was the kind of talent Norman wanted to employ at Oscorp one day, and when he learned that the boy was dating the daughter of his assistant at the time, it seemed like the perfect opportunity. 

Yet at the same time, Norman wanted more. He had big ambitions, and it seemed like nothing would stand in his way. He had worked hard all of his life to get where he was at and he had gotten used to things going his way as a result. However, the recent...predicament that he had put in the life of his former assistant had produced the unintended consequence of setting Peter against him. Norman thought he had "explained" himself very well earlier tonight, and made the perfect case for why Peter should believe that she was guilty and that the steps he took were justified, even merciful. Instead, the boy only seemed to harden in his stance against him. He would come around though. Norman would make sure of it. Talent like Peter Parker's should not go untapped to its highest potential, and he believed he was the best person to bring that out. He didn't know how, but he would. 

Finally, the elevator door opened, and Norman walked into the lab to see Dr. Warren standing in his usual place: observing the test subjects. 

"Well, Doctor?" Norman said. 

"I believe we have finally done it, Mr. Osborn," the man stated. "See for yourself," he then added, gesturing to the inner part of the lab behind a protective barrier. 

Norman stepped closer to see the results for himself. Their most recent test subject was putting his strength on full display, lifting weights in excess of 1,000 lbs. and hauling them across the room as if they were nothing. 

"Impressive," Norman said. "What about his agility and speed?" 

"Equally enhanced; the subject's reflexes are operating approximately 40 times that of the average man," Dr. Warren stated, sounding almost as if this should be expected. This was one of the main reasons Norman had chosen the good doctor for this project; beyond his competence, he had displayed a certainty about his achieving success, as if it were inevitable. He admired a man who could see a goal and accomplish it, never letting their faith in their ability waver along the way. 

"Excellent; you are to be commended, Doctor," Norman said. He didn't just complement anyone; they had to truly earn it, and this man had done exactly that. "Your pay for this first half of your work will come very soon. Next comes mass production. As a start, I want 100 samples ready by the end of the week. 

"Yes sir," Dr. Warren replied, hardly any emotion apparent on his face. The man was smart...almost too smart. Norman was no fool though; he could see his top scientist had ambitions of his own and secret projects he was likely working on. However, the man had demonstrated no threat so far, and his work always came through. He had been keeping an eye on the doctor, but saw no need to take action as of yet. Norman had made a point not to ever completely trust anyone; a trait he had sought to instill in his son Harry as well, and he applied that with anyone working for him, no matter how competent they were. 

"I take it we will give this one the same treatment we gave the rest?" Dr. Warren asked. 

"Yes, and as usual make sure the body is disposed of," Norman answered. 

He made sure to take a sample of the completed serum on his way out. 

Peter was out swinging around the city as Spider-Man. The chief of police was coming down harder on Captain Stacy when it came to involving Spider-Man in police affairs, so they recently came to an agreement that the captain would contact him if there was ever something warranting his attention and help. Ever since then, Peter had not heard from Captain Stacy even once. As he made his way throughout Manhattan, watching sunset become nighttime, he was growing impatient. He wasn't sure how much he could look into Norman Osborn without the captain, at least from a legal standpoint anyway. He hated the thought of breaking and entering, though he feared there would come a time one day where it would be necessary. Norman was careful in his word use the last time they had encountered each other while Peter was Spider-Man. He wasn't just going to trick Norman Osborn into incriminating himself. 

He simply had no idea how to get this thing started. 

He had been out for hours, getting more and more lost in his own thoughts, when he heard a police call over the radio in his mask: 

"Attention units, robbery in progress. All units, please proceed to Hope Church in Midtown." 

"A church? Really? Who robs a church?" Peter pondered out loud before arcing the web he was holding to change his course. 

Within minutes, he arrived at the church. He tapped the side of his mask, using his system to assess the situation by giving him an infrared picture from the outside. There was a man holding a gun to someone, while two others were gathering various materials. "Again, who robs a church?" he thought to himself. 

He made his way to the roof, finding a hatch at the top to gain a way inside. Moving quickly, he came to a good vantage point on the ceiling just above the situation. Time to introduce himself. 

He fired a web, using it to snag the gun away from the man holding another man, likely a pastor or someone who worked at the church, hostage. "Playing with guns in church? You ought to be ashamed of yourself!" Peter said as he came down on the man who had been holding the gun, knocking him out. The other men drew their weapons, but Peter disarmed them easily. "You boys are all in big trouble with the Man Upstairs!" he said as he went to take on the other two men. A kick here, a punch there, and it was done. He had made sure not to damage anything either; Peter hadn't been to church in a long time, but he felt a little funny for some reason regarding being the cause of collateral damage in a place often referred to as "the Lord's house." 

Peter turned his attention to the man who had been held hostage. "You okay, sir?" he asked, walking up to the man. 

"Yes, thank you Spider-Man," the man replied. "I guess God's angels come in many different forms; I guess I just never expected it to be in red and black spandex," the man replied. He seemed to be in good spirits and not too shaken up, so that was good. The man then extended his hand, offering for Peter to shake it. "I'm Drew Hyun, the pastor here," the man said. 

"Nice to meet you," Peter answered, taking the man's hand in his own to shake it. "I would introduce myself in turn, but I have a feeling you already know who I am." 

"Yeah, I kinda put that together," the pastor said with a knowing laugh. 

"What were you doing here so late anyway?" Peter inquired. 

"Getting stuff ready for our Christmas concert," the pastor responded. 

"Sounds like you're getting a jump start on that; it's barely past Thanksgiving," Peter remarked. 

"I'm afraid we're no better than your average local shopping center in that way," the pastor joked, and Peter let out a small laugh in response. The man seemed very down to earth and kind; Peter could easily see him caring for a group of people. It seemed to fit his personality. 

"Thank you for saving me; is there anything I can do for you, Spider-Man?" the pastor asked. 

Hearing police sirens, Peter answered quickly, "I appreciate that pastor, but I think I'm good. Besides, I better get out of here; I never know how the boys in blue will react to me."

He shook the pastor's hand once more and made quick his exit while the cops were still a couple of blocks away. 

About 30 minutes after the whole incident, Peter was contacted by Captain Stacy. "What can I do ya for, Captain?" he said as he answered. 

"It's nothing huge, but there's something I would like you to check out. I've gotten a few calls from people saying they have seen someone going in and out of an old abandoned building in Harlem. One of them swore it was Norman Osborn." 

That got Peter's attention. "What should I be on the lookout for?" he inquired. 

"I'm not sure to be honest," Captain Stacy said, and there was just the slightest bit of apprehension in his voice, which Peter wasn't used to. After a brief pause, the captain continued, his voice a little more quiet: "Look, the chief has been on my case about going after Osborn ever since we took down Hammerhead, and this lead could turn out to be nothing, but we have to start somewhere. I checked, and the building is not listed anywhere as being owned by Norman himself or Oscorp Industries, so that's good enough to start." 

"Understood," Peter responded. "This is a solo job then?" 

"No, I'd still like a cop there, but I can't go myself, or the chief will have a field day with this. I'm sending you my most trusted officer to meet you there. Don't do anything until she is there too." 

"Understood. Spidey out," Peter replied, hanging up. He didn't want to get his hopes up too much. In all likelihood, the captain's sentiments about how this could be nothing at all were likely true. However, he couldn't help the swell of hope in his chest that maybe, just maybe, this could be the start of what they needed to bring Norman Osborn down. 

"You wanted to see me, Captain?" 

"Officer Watanabe; yes please, come in," the captain answered. "Close the door as well please." He watched as she closed the door, then looked at him curiously as she walked up to his desk, pulling up a chair and sitting down across from it. 

"I'm going to get straight to the point," the Captain began, "there is something I need you to look into. You know about the calls we have received about the man who may or may not be Norman Osborn entering that old building in Harlem?" 

"Yes, what about them?" Watanabe asked, her expression unchanged. 

"I want you to head down there immediately to look around for...well, anything. Report anything you find only to me. Is that understood?" Captain Stacy asked, his expression serious but controlled. After years on the force in a leadership capacity, he had learned to make sure his facial expression never conveyed intimidation to an officer. 

"Understood sir," she replied, and got up from her chair to exit. 

"Oh, one more thing," the captain said, rising from his seat. He walked over to her and stood almost right next to her. His voice was low when he spoke again. 

"I picked you for this assignment because I trust you; not just your skill, but your integrity. Which is why I can also trust you with the knowledge that you will have a certain red and black clad partner that will be waiting for you there." 

Captain Stacy watched as the young officer's eyes slightly widened, like she just had something click in her mind. Her facial expression morphed into one that clearly understood the seriousness of the situation, and she finally responded. 

"I'll be expecting him then." 

With that, she opened the door, and now the captain could only sit and wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments! I am always open to critiques presented in a peaceable manner. 
> 
> Thank you to those who left kudos and subscribed after the first chapter. Every little bit of support is deeply appreciated. 
> 
> Stay safe and healthy! 
> 
> "No king is saved by the size of his army..." Psalm 33:16-19


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Spider-Man, I presume?" she asked with a clear form of mock sarcasm. 
> 
> "What gave me away?" Peter joked in turn. "And you would be?" 
> 
> "Officer Yuriko Watanabe," she answered, and their hands met to shake. "You can call me Yuri if that's easier."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter: Spider-Man and Yuri meet and do some detective work together.

Peter had been perched on the wall for 15 minutes now. He had found the old building the captain mentioned; it was just some old warehouse that looked like it had not been used in YEARS. He decided to stay right out front in plain sight, so that the officer Captain Stacy was sending to meet him wasn't surprised by his presence, so he stuck himself to a spot on the front wall about 20 feet up and waited. Whoever this person was, he wanted to make as good a first impression on them as he could. Peter couldn't help but see this as progress; the fact that the captain was sending another cop to greet him had to be a great sign of trust, right? 

He had fallen into a little game where he was quizzing himself on the names of the few stars he could see in the city skyline when a police car finally pulled up to the building. Peter looked down at it, snapping out of the near daze he was in, and jumped down casually, like a kid jumping off a playground. A lady came out of the car, dressed in a typical officer uniform, but with a black leather jacket on that matched her black hair. She was the first of them to speak up as they walked towards each other. 

"Spider-Man, I presume?" she asked with a clear form of mock sarcasm. 

"What gave me away?" Peter joked in turn. "And you would be?" 

"Officer Yuriko Watanabe," she answered, and their hands met to shake. "You can call me Yuri if that's easier." 

"Okay, Yuri," Peter said. He had to admit, this was not what he expected. He expected an officer handpicked by Captain Stacy to be very business like and to the point; not rude, but completely serious about the job. Instead, Yuri seemed very...down to earth. Peter felt like he was just talking to another civilian, not an officer of the law. 

He quickly regathered his thoughts as they moved to be side by side as they walked towards the building. "So, I take it the captain briefed you on the situation?" 

"Yes, but I'm not exactly sure what we can expect to find," Yuri said, looking straight ahead at the building before turning and looking at him. "Usually that's when the most interesting stuff is though." 

"Oh yea, definitely," Peter said, trying to sound a little more experienced than he was. It didn't come out quite as confident as he wanted, but Yuri didn't seem to pay it any mind. 

They came up to the front door and Peter tried opening it, but the door was locked. He backed up just a little. "Hold on," he started, leaning his right shoulder down just a bit. "I'm gonna..." 

Next thing he knew, she had kicked the door open and walked right in. 

"That works too," he said, shrugging to himself. That's twice now that Yuri had surprised him somehow, and he had a feeling it wasn't going to be the last time either. 

He followed her in and they both immediately took an assessment of the room, looking around. "So, what should we be looking for?" he asked. 

"Anything really; you look around the right side of the room and I'll look around the left side," Yuri responded, quickly taking control of the situation. Okay, maybe she was mostly business after all. Frankly, Peter felt he just needed to give up trying to read her. He walked over and looked around, setting the lenses on his mask to scan for any anomalies. After a couple minutes of looking, his system picked up something behind a section of the wall. 

"Yuri, over here!" he called out, and she jogged over to him. 

"What did you find?" she asked. 

"I'm not sure, but the system in my suit picked up a structural anomaly. Something's behind this wall, I just don't know what." 

"Look around this area," she suggested. "It could be an elevator or something behind there, so there might be a way to get access to it nearby." 

"Someone watches a lot of mystery movies," Peter joked as he began looking and feeling along the wall. 

"Nah, just a lot of Scooby-Doo as a kid," Yuri answered without missing a beat. Wow. A police officer that actually used Scooby-Doo as a point of reference during an investigation? He never thought he would see the day. 

They continued along for what was really only about a minute before Yuri called out to him this time. "I found something," she said. 

Peter walked over to her; they really hadn't covered much wall space, figuring that whatever would let them in had to be close. "What is it?" Peter asked, before taking a look and answering his own question. It was partially hidden by the dark, but there was a keypad in the wall. It looked a lot newer than the rest of the building; definitely installed by Norman. His enhanced vision should have seen it easily, but he hadn't thought to look for something so simple. 

He glanced over at Yuri, who was reaching into her inside jacket pocket for something. She pulled out what looked like a small flashlight, but when she clicked it, a little green light shone against the keypad, revealing fingerprints against certain keys. 

"That's cool," Peter remarked. Yuri had definitely come prepared. 

"Yeah, but it doesn't give us everything," she remarked. They knew now that the code involved the numbers 1,2,3, and 7. "Any thoughts?" she asked. 

Peter didn't have much experience when it came to hacking, so he decided on another line of thought. "My best guess is those numbers mean something significant to Norman, assuming our theory is correct. The question is what." 

Both of them stood there, thinking. Yuri began pacing the room after about a minute, but Peter stood still. Those numbers sounded so familiar for some reason; he swore it was from his academic decathlon days during the previous few years too. He racked his brain, trying to think of all the times when Liz and M.J. respectively had grilled him on various dates, equations, etc. Finally, a light bulb went off in his head. He reached for the keypad with his right pointer finger, typing the numbers in a little slowly just in case he was wrong and his spider-sense could warn them of potential consequences. Fortunately, he was right, as the keypad light turned bright green and beeped a few times. 

"How'd you do that?" Yuri said after hurrying back next to him. 

"1732; it's the year George Washington was born," Peter replied. 

"So basically a lucky guess," Yuri responded. Peter turned to her, seeing her hands on her hips and her head tilted with a skeptical look on her face. 

"An educated one; after my little incident at the Washington monument several years ago, I read something about how Norman paid for the repairs of it." This seemed to satisfy her as her arms dropped to her sides and she looked overall more relaxed. 

Unfortunately, the successful code entry hadn't unlocked a secret door, but rather for it to slide back into the wall and be replaced by a retinal scanner.

"Oh, great," Peter blurted out. He couldn't help but feel disappointed that it hadn't just been that easy, but he shouldn't have been surprised. 

"Don't suppose you've got something in that suit of yours that can get past that?" Yuri asked. Her tone seemed only half serious, like she probably already new the answer. 

"Nope," Peter answered, giving a quick shake of his head. 

"Yea, makes sense," Yuri said almost nonchalantly. 

"What now?" Peter asked. 

"Follow me," Yuri answered as she turned and walked back towards the front door. Peter followed behind, and he noticed she took out her little fingerprint flashlight again, this time shining it on the handle, revealing the fingerprints of whoever had been there other than them. 

"Whoever was here may have multiple security measures to keep nosy people like us from getting to far in, but we may at least be able to identify who they are," she said. "I've got a kit to collect fingerprints in my car, but since you more or less already have gloves on, do you want to be the one to get them?" 

"Sure!" Peter said, perhaps a little too excitedly. Yuri ran out to grab the kit, leaving him to quietly chastise himself for being so giddy about this. He was just happy that a cop was willing to allow him to help to the level that he had been tonight. This seemed like huge progress! 

After she brought the kit over and gave him the basic rundown, he went to work, securing each fingerprint while she held the light over the handle to make them visible. Before he knew it, they were done. 

"There you go," he said once everything was all packed up. "Anything else?" 

"No I have a feeling we're not going to get much further in this than we have," Yuri answered as they started walking towards her car. She opened the door and set the kit in the passenger seat. "Well, good work. Hopefully this will turn something up," she said as she raised her arm up onto the roof of the car and leaned into it. 

"I really hope so," he said a little too eagerly

"Not to pry, but your beef with Norman almost sounds personal," Yuri said, narrowing her eyes at him. 

"Maybe, maybe not," Peter said, crossing his arms and standing a little more upright. "What makes you say that?"

"You looked really disappointed when entering the code didn't get us in, you seem enthusiastic to see the results of our little excursion, and Captain Stacy just so happens to have you as an ally on this. Why?"

"It's complicated," Peter said, maintaining his stance. 

"Just be careful," she said, and there was a genuine nature to her words. "The results might not be pretty if you continue going after him like this." 

"Don't worry," he said, letting his arms back down to his sides, "I'll be care..."

Spider-Sense.

Acting on instinct, he grabbed her and pulled her down as a bullet came flying at them, shattering the driver door window of her car. Peter moved them both quickly to the other side of the vehicle as more bullets came flying in, but thankfully none of them connected, instead shattering glass and making the car rock a little up and down. Once the rain of bullets had stopped, Peter poked his head up over the roof of the car, looking out in the direction the bullets had come from. He could see no one there though, and his spider-sense had stopped. 

"I think whoever it is is gone," Peter remarked, standing up all the way now. 

"How do you know?" Yuri asked, her gun drawn and being held beside her. 

"My spider-sense isn't going off anymore, and I don't see anyone either," he said matter of factly. 

"Spider-sense?" Yuri questioned. 

"Yeah," Peter said, suddenly remembering that this ability wasn't common knowledge to the public like his strength and speed. "It's basically a sixth sense that warns me of imminent danger."

"Oh," Yuri said, looking like she was trying to process this new info. "That's neat. In any case, thank you." 

"Of course." 

"Now I know we're on the right track," she said, standing up along with him now, holstering her weapon. "Somehow word must have got back to Osborn that we were investigating this." 

"You think it's someone in the force who's responsible for this leak of info?" Peter asked. 

"Maybe," Yuri said, her voice carrying a little uncertainty with it. "Right now I need to get back there with this stuff and take it to the captain." 

"Right, of course," Peter replied. "You want me to follow you from a distance back to the station?" 

"No thanks, I should be good," she said, walking around and opening the driver side door. She made sure to knock off any glass that was in her seat before getting in and closing the door, buckling up. 

"Thanks again," Yuri said. 

"No problem," Peter said as she drove off. 

One thing that Peter knew for sure now was that she was right: they were on the right track, and he wasn't going to stop now. There was nothing more that he could do tonight however, and it was getting late. He ran up the side of a nearby building, firing a web and began the swing back home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so excited about putting Yuri in the story. I was a big fan of her character in Marvel's Spider-Man, but I'm also trying to put my own twist on her as well. 
> 
> Hope you all liked the chapter! Feel free to leave any feedback you want. 
> 
> Stay safe and healthy everyone! 
> 
> "and who knows, but that you have come..." Esther 4:13-14


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Something else on your mind?" May asked as she sat down across from him. She was too good at reading him. 
> 
> "I don't know May, it's just..." Peter took a moment, looking at nothing in particular as he pondered what he would say next. He finally returned his eyes to his aunt's. "What Norman did to M.J. and her mom, what he's still trying to do...I have to stop him somehow. I feel..." 
> 
> "Responsible?" May said, finishing his sentence for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter: a little bit of kind and loving May, a little M.J, a new use of the guy in the chair, and an unexpected circumstance.

Peter hardly slept that night, the wheels in his head constantly turning, refusing to leave him be. They HAD to be onto Norman now; why else would someone come shooting at him and Yuri? At the same time, he felt like they hadn't made much progress. All they came away with was some potential identification of who else had been there based on fingerprints, but even if they did turn out to be Norman's, that still wasn't evidence of a crime. Where could he go from here? 

When his alarm clock went off, he had only managed two and a half hours of actual sleep, the rest of the night just a bunch of restless tossing and turning. He forced himself out of bed and went over to his closet to get the clothes he would wear for the day. He settled on a blue long sleeved casual button up over a white shirt. After getting dressed and making himself look a lot more presentable than he felt on the inside, he grabbed his backpack and made his way downstairs. 

"Morning, sleepy head," May greeted him. 

"Morning," Peter said, fighting back his third hard yawn in the last ten minutes. 

"Rough night last night?" May asked. Even in his state of semi delirium, Peter could see the concern on her face. He hated to see her that way, but at the same time, he had tried not to lie to her since she found out he was Spider-Man. This usually resulted in him giving short answers that left out ugly details when necessary while also conveying how things really had gone.

"Not too bad," Peter replied, "just couldn't sleep." 

"Something on your mind?" she asked, the concerned look a little less intense but not completely gone either. 

"We made a little progress in the investigation, I think, but not much," he mumbled as he set his backpack on the floor and sat down at the table. 

"You and the captain will figure it out," May tried to reassure him as she set down some buttered bagels on a plate in front of him. 

"Yeah," was all he could mumble as he grabbed one of the bagels and took a huge bite out of one of his favorite comfort foods. 

"Something else on your mind?" May asked as she sat down across from him. She was too good at reading him. 

"I don't know May, it's just..." Peter took a moment, looking at nothing in particular as he pondered what he would say next. He finally returned his eyes to his aunt's. "What Norman did to M.J. and her mom, what he's still trying to do...I have to stop him somehow. I feel..." 

"Responsible?" May said, finishing his sentence for him. 

"Well, yeah." Peter admitted. He knew he had no logical reason to feel that way. It was likely that Norman was planning on using M.J.'s mom as the one to take the blame for some time. He had the police chief in his pocket and everything had worked out how the man wanted as a result. He just couldn't help the nagging feeling inside of him that there must have been something he could've done to prevent this from happening in the first place. He just had to stop him, before something worse happened...

"Peter?" May said, probably for like the third time, finally getting his attention away from his own thoughts. When he refocused himself on her, she continued, "Listen to me: bad people are going to continue to do bad things. You're out there trying your best, and I'm so proud of you for it." 

"Thanks May," Peter replied. He did feel a little better. There was not much nicer a thing in the world than to hear his aunt say she was proud of him. 

"Plus, let's be honest," his aunt continued, "this is M.J. and her mom we're talking about here. We both know they could hold their own." 

Peter let out a small laugh in response. "Yeah, that's definitely true," he conceded. To be honest, he pitied anyone who had to cross M.J. by herself when she was angry. As he'd gotten to know her mom, he could see a little bit of that same spirit in her as well. Yep, quite a formidable duo they would make indeed. 

He finished his food and gathered his things, receiving a warm hug and a kiss on the forehead from his aunt before heading out the door. 

Peter had just walked into school when he felt a playful bump on his shoulder. 

"What up, dork?" came the voice of one Michelle Jones. When he glanced at her face, he noticed a pleasant smile stretched from one end to the other. 

"You look happy today," he responded, "what's up?" 

"Mom said last night that she already is really liking the job your aunt gave her," M.J. responded, her smile getting even bigger. "I...I've just never seen her that happy before. I think she feels like she's actually making a difference this way, ya know?" 

"That's awesome!" Peter replied as they continued walking to his locker. "I'm really glad SOMETHING good has turned up in all this," he added, putting a little more emphasis on those middle words than he quite meant to. His frustration was clearly getting the better of him. 

"I take it that means not much progress has been made in your little investigation," she replied as they stopped at his locker. Thankfully, Peter didn't sense any impatience or frustration in her voice, but rather sympathy mixed with curiosity.

"A little, but not much," he said as he entered the code and opened his locker, gathering materials for their first class. M.J. always kept her stuff for 1st period in her backpack, so she would often stay there with him as he picked up what he needed. "We found a place where it looks like he's hiding something, but there wasn't much evidence there." 

"You'll get him," she replied, smiling and punching his arm playfully in an attempt to reassure him. He wished he had as much confidence in himself as everyone else seemed to have in him. She then asked a question that surprised him a little bit: "Is there anything I can do to help?" 

Peter looked at her, trying to hide the sudden nervousness he felt at her question, but his expression must've conveyed it to her, because he noticed her expression changed slightly from happy to a little nervous as well. 

"I didn't mean go out there with you, of course, I just thought that maybe..." 

"No, no of course not," he stammered out. "I'm sorry M.J; I guess I just needed a moment to think about your question." 

"Oh, gotcha," she responded, and a little tension seemed to leave her body as her facial expression relaxed. 

"I guess...just don't let your mom give into him," Peter replied after taking a moment to think. "I'll find something on him and I'll see that he gets what's coming to him, I promise." 

The conviction in his last statement seemed to reassure her as she smiled. "That I can do," she replied, tilting her head back ever so slightly. Her expression then turned a little more serious again. "Seriously though, if there is any research I can do or something practical, let me know." 

"Of course," he replied. He didn't know why he had been so nervous before. M.J. was bold and unafraid, but she was also smart, practical and realistic. While she was a force to be reckoned with when necessary, she never sought out dangerous situations. He made a mental note to have more faith in her common sense in the future. 

The school day came and went just like that. Betty and M.J. had apparently made plans to hang out after school, so Peter and Ned each said goodbye to their respective girlfriends before walking down the hallway towards the exit. As Peter was just about to ask Ned how he was doing on his mission to complete a Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga play through in record time, he got a call from the number he recognized as the office of Dr. Connors' lab. 

"Dr. Connors?" he answered. 

"It's Martha actually," came the voice of the good doctor's wife. "Listen, Peter, we need your help with something." 

"Of course, anything!" Peter reassured her. Her voice hadn't been too serious or grim, so it was likely not something too bad, but he wanted to reassure her that he could help with anything. 

"We think the guys cleaning stuff yesterday must've accidentally done something to the computer; he's been having issues with it all day apparently. Now, he knows that after the, well, incident, a lot of the initial grant money he received had to be utilized for purchasing new equipment. He says he can try to fix it himself, but I wondered if maybe you or one of your friends might be able to take a look at it?" 

Peter shot a glance at Ned who was just behind him on his left. "Let me check on something and call you back," he said before hanging up. "Well Ned," he said, stopping and turning to face his best friend, "you wanna help out one of the world's foremost scientists by fixing his computer?" 

Needless to say, it had not taken Ned ANY convincing, and soon they were well on their way to the lab. Peter probably could have fixed the issue himself, but if there was one person who was just a bit better with computers than him, it was Ned. He had also felt kind of guilty for not using him as much as His Guy in The Chair recently. He had grown more and more independent as Spider-Man since Europe, but he still wanted to make sure that his buddy knew that his talents were appreciated and wanted somehow. 

"Dr. Connors?" Peter called out as he and Ned entered the lab. His enhanced sense of smell picked up on the extreme freshness of the place due to the deep clean. It was almost overwhelming, but by now he had trained himself to bring his senses under control quickly, so it wasn't but a second before the feeling passed. 

"In here, Peter," the doc called out from his office. Peter and Ned entered to find the man still hard at work trying to fix the computer, with his wife standing there, clearly fighting the urge to shake her head or roll her eyes at her husband's stubbornness. She turned to address them first: 

"Well boys, I've got to get going for my shift at the hospital, but I told him to make sure to use your help," she said before turning to face her husband. "Isn't that right, honey?" 

"Yes, yes of course," the Doctor said, finally stopping his efforts and coming over to greet Ned first. "You must be Ned. Peter's told me so much about you I feel like I practically know you myself," he said, offering his hand to shake, a gesture Ned accepted. The doctor then turned and kissed his wife goodbye before leading Ned over to the computer. 

"Doc, I'm going to go ahead and get started checking on the enclosures and stuff," Peter said from the door of the office. "Don't worry, I'm leaving you in good hands though, he said, pointing at his best friend, who returned the gesture back to him. 

Peter went about doing his usual check ups and even ran a couple small tests on some of the equipment to make sure everything was still functioning well. After about an hour, Ned and the doc emerged from the office. 

"What's the verdict?" Peter asked as they both walked up to him. He was in the middle of checking the water in the fish tank to make sure the cleaning device they installed was not doing anything additional to the water. 

"Your friend really does know what he's talking about," the doc spoke up. 

"It turns out that the doc had a nasty virus on his computer. It took me a while, but I was able to figure out how to wipe it out without damaging any of the contents on the main server." 

Peter finished checking the water before setting the materials down and turned to acknowledge them. "I knew if anyone could do it, you could," Peter said as he and Ned performed their ritual handshake. 

"Please, I really insist on paying you for your trouble," the doc offered, looking at Ned. 

"I appreciate that sir, but I was just happy to help," Ned replied with a dismissive hand held up. 

Peter let out little laugh at his friend's goofy but genuine display of humility before he felt his phone buzz in his pocket. He pulled it out to see it was M.J. His expression turned to a nervous one; she knew he worked at the lab during these hours, so something must be wrong. Excusing himself for a moment, he turned around and started walking away from them, answering the phone.

"Hey M.J." 

"Peter, I need your help!!" she cried out through the phone in an unusually panicked voice. M.J. NEVER panicked. She didn't give him an opportunity to respond before continuing, "My mom and I were walking home after she had gotten off early at her job, when these men just pulled up in a van and through her in before driving away! She's been kidnapped Peter!!" 

"Where did this happen?" After getting what critical details he could from his girlfriend, he told Ned and Dr. Connors that he had an emergency before bolting out the door. He quickly found an alley and yanked off his clothes before throwing on his Spider-Man outfit. Firing a web at the top of the building, he launched himself over it and in the direction of the kidnapping. 

M.J. and her mom had finally managed to begin rebuilding their relationship, perhaps even better than before. Peter was not going to let M.J. lose that all of a sudden. 

He wasn't, no matter what it took.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a plan for this chapter, then I wrote it out, and only about two thirds of what I planned made it in while a whole other section was completely added, while another was dropped. Hope you all like it! Thank you to those who have commented and left kudos so far. Your thoughts and support are always appreciated :) 
> 
> Stay safe and healthy everyone! 
> 
> "One one occasion, while he was eating with them..." Acts 1:4-8


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter was nearing the area where M.J.'s mom had been kidnapped. He had managed to get some information out of her: whoever kidnapped her mom were in a big, black cargo van, but she didn't have a chance to get a license plate number. She didn't get make and model either. Peter had only sensed one thing in her expression when he talked to her: fear. Even when she had calmed down and given him what little information that she could, he still picked up the underlying dread in her voice. His thoughts went to how M.J. had been telling him recently how much better her and her mom were doing. It was almost like the firing at Oscorp was a blessing in disguise for them. Peter had never seen his girlfriend as happy as she had been the last few days, and all of that was now at risk. He could not fail her. He wouldn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter: Peter takes on a certain small team of bad guys.

Peter was nearing the area where M.J.'s mom had been kidnapped. He had managed to get some information out of her: whoever kidnapped her mom were in a big, black cargo van, but she didn't have a chance to get a license plate number. She didn't get make and model either. Peter had only sensed one thing in her expression when he talked to her: fear. Even when she had calmed down and given him what little information that she could, he still picked up the underlying dread in her voice. His thoughts went to how M.J. had been telling him recently how much better her and her mom were doing. It was almost like the firing at Oscorp was a blessing in disguise for them. Peter had never seen his girlfriend as happy as she had been the last few days, and all of that was now at risk. He could not fail her. He wouldn't. 

Peter answered when he got a call from Ned through the system in his mask. "Anything yet?" 

"No; there wasn't much security footage in that area to begin with, but I have only found like 100 vehicles matching the description you gave me," Ned answered. He could hear the disappointment in Ned's voice, as if his best friend had failed him. 

"Okay, just keep looking. I'm sure you can turn up something," Peter said, hoping that was enough to encourage Ned to keep going. Honestly, he was more upset with himself than anything else. When he and Ned had modified the E.D.I.T.H. system and integrated it into his suit, he had made the decision to get rid of all drone launching and spying capabilities. He didn't like all the power it gave him, so he figured it would be more useful as more of an environmental analysis system. Now, however, he was beginning to regret that decision. The original E.D.I.T.H. would've almost certainly found that van by now. He forced himself to put aside those thoughts though, because he knew they wouldn't do him any good. 

He finally arrived at the location where she was taken. M.J. had already left; Peter had asked her to go to his and May's apartment, both for her protection, but also because he didn't want her to be alone while he was tracking her mom down. He surveyed the scene, finding nothing in plain sight. He set his system to analyze the whole block. After about a minute of walking around and trying to find something, anything, his system picked up something underneath a nearby car. Peter hurried over and reached underneath. It was a sticker advertising the old carnival that had become quite popular, but after the blip, it had been turned into a makeshift shelter area and had not been opened since. It wasn't much, but he had to take a chance. 

"Hey Ned, can you look and see if a van fitting that description is heading towards the old carnival grounds in Harlem?" Peter asked, already web swinging that way just in case. 

"Give me a second....yes, yes I see one!" Ned practically yelled through Peter's earpiece. "They actually just passed the last security point before they would be entering that area!" 

"Perfect, thanks!" Peter said, hanging up in a hurry to concentrate all of his focus on swinging. 

When he made it there, Peter landed on top of a building just on the inside of the grounds. He scanned the area for heat signatures, finding four of them in what used to be the old haunted house, before most of the "haunted" stuff was cleared out of the building when it was converted to a shelter. Locating a way into the ventilation system, he fired a web and made one good, quick swing to that spot, pulled the entrance to the vent open and crawled in. 

He heard some voices pretty early on, so he followed the maze of air vents until finally he came to where he was directly over top of them. He surveyed the scene, noticing there were three men: a brutish strongman, a much smaller man carrying some kind of baton, and a man in between their sizes wearing a cowboy hat, who seemed to be the one doing all the talking. 

"Ma'am, I don't think you understand what we're offering," the cowboy said in a heavy western accent. "We know how to help deal with these situations, and we're perfectly willing to help you." 

"Then why did you kidnap me?" Mrs. Jones said. She was tied to a chair in the middle of the floor. "That doesn't do much to convince me you want to help." 

"We do apologize for the abruptness of our methods of getting you here," the cowboy said, walking closer to Mrs. Jones before bending down so his face was level and right up near Mrs. Jones's. "But you see, we really wanted to speak in private. You see ma'am, if you don't let us help you politely, well...we have other methods of, shall we say, persuading you." 

As the cowboy finished speaking, the strongman came up closer to her, hitting his right fist a couple of times against his left hand. 

That was all Peter needed to see. He had hoped to get a better idea of what these men were each capable of, but he was not about to take a chance on someone's life because of it. He burst through the vent opening, free falling until he landed squarely between the man and Mrs. Jones, forcing the cowboy to take a few steps back by his landing there. 

"Sorry boys, but this is NOT how you treat a lady," Peter said, and he bent down into a defensive stance, ready for a fight. 

"Well now, if it ain't the famous Spider that protects the streets of New York!" the cowboy said, almost like he was pleased with this development. 

"First of all, it's Spider-MAN," Peter corrected, not leaving his stance, "and second, who are you supposed to be, Yosemite Sam?" 

"Nah, bug," the cowboy said as his cohorts came on either side of him. "I'm just a part of the world's best crew." The man then glanced to his right then his left as he spoke up again, "Enforcers: we've heard a lot of stories about this here spider. What say we write his last one now." 

At that, the smaller man extended his baton so that it was much longer than before and came charging at him. Peter moved to his right as the strong man came charging at him, he jumped up out of the way, just in time for the smaller one to come at him with a flying kick, nailing him in the stomach and sending him flying against the wall. 

"Okay, I see how it's going to be," Peter said, but while he was speaking, the cowboy had lassoed him with some kind of high tech...well, lasso, and yanked him down. His spider-sense rang out just in time for the strong man, who had already recovered, to wrap him up in a bear hug, squeezing as tightly as he could. 

"That's it Ox," said the cowboy, still holding the high tech rope, "squeeze the pour bug until you put him out of his misery."

Okay, no more playing it safe. 

The strong man's grip was exactly that, borderline superhuman even, but finally Peter forced himself out with only a mild bit of strain, then shot a kick into the man's chin, sending him up into the air. With a little more strain, he forced his arms out of their metal entrapment as the smaller man came at him with his baton once more. Peter repeatedly dodged his attempts to hit him, eventually grabbing the baton and throwing it over his shoulder, launching the man into the wall, with Peter immediately firing a web to pin him to the wall. He had just finished webbing him when his spider-sense rang out again. He glanced behind him to see Ox charging towards him again. Peter jumped into the air, back flipping behind the large man. He fired a web out of each hand as he was still in the air, yanking once he reached the ground so that the large man came flying towards him backwards. Peter dropped down onto his back and bent his legs, and when his feet made contact with Ox, he launched him straight up into the air. He then stood up, fired two more webs, and yanked hard, this time slamming ox straight into the hard concrete floor beneath them, knocking him out this time.

"Spider!" came the voice of the cowboy again. Peter spun around to see the man now holding a gun to Mrs. Jones's head. How could he have lost track of her like that? 

"Don't move, and the lady won't get hurt," the cowboy said as he slowly undid her restraints before forcing her up right in front of him. 

"Don't do this," Peter pleaded, slowly raising his arms straight out in front of him. 

"You shouldn't have stuck your nose in the Enforcers business, boy," the man growled. 

"So someone hired you then?" Peter questioned, trying to keep the man talking. 

"Of course, we're the best in the business," the cowboy mentioned as if it should be obvious. 

"Even when it means hurting a lovely lady like this?" Peter questioned again, gesturing towards Mrs. Jones. 

"Ain't nothing personal hoss. Simple truth is if a man's a man, he honors his responsibilities, and she's one of mine." 

The man's hand had slackened just enough off the trigger, so now was the time to act. 

"Mine too," Peter replied, quickly twisting his wrist and firing a web line. Not even a second after it stuck to the gun, he yanked it forward, pulling it out away from the man's hand and launching himself towards the cowboy as well and delivering a firm punch to the cowboy, knocking him to the ground. Peter made sure not to knock him out. He still had questions. 

Standing over the man, Peter grabbed him by his shirt and hoisted him up into the air. "Who hired you?" he said in his most demanding voice. 

"Can't tell you that son," the cowboy replied once he regained his senses enough. "It'd be bad for business." 

Peter drew back his right hand and formed a fist with it. "I'm warning you," he almost growled. 

"I know how your kind think, hero," the cowboy replied with a smirk, "and Ol' Montana knows who has it in 'em and who doesn't. You, young son, most definitely do not." 

Peter stared at the man for a few seconds before letting his fist down slowly. The man had called his bluff. "Alright, then tell me the why," he said, opting to change subjects. "What did your employer want with her?" 

"A lot of people know that she stole from Norman Osborn," the man replied, "and a lot of people want that money." 

"I didn't steal it!" Peter heard Mrs. Jones call from behind. 

"Hate to tell you this ma'am," Montana said, looking past Peter towards her, "but there are a lot of people who don't believe you." 

The man turned and looked at Peter with the same smug look, and he had finally had enough. He delivered the knockout punch, dropping Montana to the ground. 

After he made sure Mrs. Jones got home alright, he called M.J. to let her know. 

"Thank you, Peter," M.J. said, and he could feel the genuine nature of her words. 

"You're welcome, but something tells me this isn't over yet," Peter replied. "We need to see about setting up some kind of security for your mom until it is." 

"I'll contact Pepper, see if she has any ideas or things we can borrow," M.J. offered. 

"That's a great idea," Peter replied. "I have something I need to do anyway."

"What's that?" M.J. asked.

"I think it's time I had another man to man talk with Norman Osborn."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had intended to solve the mystery of the shooter from a couple chapters ago in this chapter, but I couldn't find the right place for it, so I left that part out. It will be addressed eventually though. 
> 
> Hope you liked this chapter! Thank you to all who have left comments and kudos! Your support means the world to me :) 
> 
> Stay safe out there! 
> 
> "There is neither Jew nor Gentile..." Galatians 3:28


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He hoped he could find a way to make the man incriminate himself this time, but Norman was so clever in his word choice. What if instead, it was Norman who would be the one controlling the conversation? Besides, Peter hadn't gotten a clean confession out of the Enforcers, and he had to reconcile with the idea that it really could've been someone else who hired them. It's not like a man like Norman Osborn didn't have enemies in the business world, right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter: updates from the captain, a burning tower, and a disturbing new enemy.

Within minutes, Peter was already halfway to Oscorp. M.J. had pleaded with him to have some sense, and she only seemed partially consoled when he told her that he and Norman were just going to "have a talk," before he hung up. Honestly, he wasn't sure what he was going to do, or how it was going to go. All he knew was that enough was enough. Rage flowed through his veins as he swung along.

He hoped he could find a way to make the man incriminate himself this time, but Norman was so clever in his word choice. What if instead, it was Norman who would be the one controlling the conversation? Besides, Peter hadn't gotten a clean confession out of the Enforcers, and he had to reconcile with the idea that it really could've been someone else who hired them. It's not like a man like Norman Osborn didn't have enemies in the business world, right? 

Peter let go of his web just in time to barely avoid slamming into the side of a building, tensing his muscles when he latched onto the wall to avoid a rough landing. What was he doing? He had been operating off of nothing but anger for the greater part of the afternoon/evening. He had to get himself together if he was going to take down Osborn the right way, and that had to start by not haphazardly running to Oscorp on a whim, trying to intimidate a man who often seemed to get what he wanted through intimidation. He turned to lean against the wall of the building and squinted his eyes shut, chastising himself internally for his foolish idea. What was this going to accomplish? He still needed hard evidence; anger and adrenaline were no help to him. 

He was shaken from his thoughts when his mask informed him Captain Stacy was trying to contact him. Desperately hoping for some good news, he tapped the side of his mask to answer. 

"Please tell me this is something good?" he said, a little too much desperation escaping through his voice.

"Yes and no," the captain started off. Peter couldn't get a read on if the man's tone was more positive or negative. "I ran those prints you and officer Watanabe recovered, and we confirmed them to be Norman's as well as another man's: Dr. Miles Warren.

"Dr. Warren?" Peter posed. 

"You know him?" the Captain asked in response. "I haven't been able to find much on him." 

"I know ABOUT him more than anything else," Peter clarified. "He was one of the top geneticists in the world; the way he understood the human body, its needs and the potential ways of enhancing it were unparalleled. He probably would've earned a Nobel prize by now if he hadn't disappeared years ago." 

"Norman must have recruited him for something top secret, which brings me to the bad news: I found out that Norman had made an off the books deal with the city to secure ownership of that building, making sure it wouldn't show up on any records. I had to dig pretty deep before I finally could get that info." 

"You're kidding me?" Peter said, his voice carrying an extreme annoyance to it. He leaned the back of his head against the wall and rolled his eyes underneath his mask, because of course this would happen!

"It's certainly curious, but the bottom line is that Norman does legally own the place, so for now, that's off limits." 

"Understood, sir," Peter said with a bit of a sigh.

"This isn't us giving up," the captain said, conviction evident in his voice. "We've just been rerouted. We need to look for a new path to take." 

"Any initial thoughts on what that looks like?" Peter asked. 

"Not yet," the captain said, his voice sounding a little less confident than he did before. "I'd sure pay good money though to find out what they're up to in that old dump out there." 

Peter looked out; he hadn't even realized up until this point that he could see Oscorp tower from his current position. "Me too captain," he replied after a moment, "me too." 

BOOM!!

Next thing Peter knew, an explosion at Oscorp rocked the building he was perched on, if ever so slightly. 

"Spider-Man! What just happened? Are you okay?" the captain shouted. 

"I'm fine, but Oscorp was just lit up like nothing I've ever seen!!" Peter shouted back. "I'm on my way to see if I can get people out!" 

"I'll send fire and rescue and multiple units down there," the captain replied, but Peter was already moving swiftly towards Oscorp, his every web release and firing as precise as possible. While he had learned to let his spider-sense take control during more casual swings, he had also made sure he knew how to fire his webs at all the right angles when getting somewhere in a hurry was necessary. 

Within minutes, he was closing in on the building. The top half was where most of the flames were, which meant those were the places he needed to check for civilians first. He fired one last web right at the building (thank goodness his most recent formula for his webs had produced the most fire repellent batch yet) and rocketed feet first through a window and into the building. He landed on a wall, his left hand and foot adhered to it while the rest of him turned so he could scan the immediate area. 

"Can anyone hear me!!??" he cried out, hoping no one was there to hear him. 

"Over here!!" came an answer. It sounded like it was coming from the room next door, so he sprang into the next room through the doorway, finding two people, a man and a woman, trapped under rubble, flames drawing closer to them. He ran over to them, squatting down to position himself underneath the rubble. 

"As soon as I lift, if you can walk, get out of here as fast as you can, and help any injured you see along the way," Peter instructed, before giving a good hoist with his arms, lifting the rubble out from above them. It was heavy, but nothing he couldn't handle. Within moments, the civilians were free. He glanced at them to make sure they could get out; the man could walk easier than the woman, so he helped her along as fast as they could go. It was little things like this that restored a little bit of his faith in people from time to time. He gave the rubble one last good push, tossing it up and off of himself so he could leap back and out of its way. Just then, his spider sense rang out, enabling him to avoid a sudden burst of flames and the floor giving out right where he had been standing. If he was going to find anybody else, he needed to move, quickly! 

He made his way through the building as fast as he could, trusting both his spider-sense and enhanced hearing to alert him of both endangered civilians and danger to himself. He rescued several people, helping them out from underneath rubble, saving them from collapsing floors, etc. 

As he worked his way down the levels of the building, the flames spread more and more, and it wasn't long before he began to really feel the heat through his suit. He hadn't had any direct contact with flames yet, but he knew he wouldn't last much longer. He had started on the 23rd floor, and as he had made his way closer and closer to ground level, there were less and less people, and he hadn't seen anyone on the last 5 floors he had went through, but on the 4th floor, he found someone who was trapped, stuck in a corner with flames surrounding him. From the opposite corner of the room, he fired a web at the man, yanking him well above the flames and leapt forward, catching the man in the middle of the room and promptly landing. 

"Th...thanks Spidey," was all the terrified man could mutter. 

"Thank me once we're out of here," Peter replied, keeping his trademark light tone despite the dire situation going on around them. The flames were spreading faster than before, and he was sure the building was on the verge of collapsing. He would have to get the man back out and make one last entry into the building to comb the remaining floors. He had just turned to lead the man to the window when his spider-sense went off again, but for a different reason. 

Peter turned in the direction he was being alerted towards and he saw what appeared to be a man in some strange costume on some kind of hover glider. Even with his enhanced sight, he couldn't quite make out the details of the threat, though that soon changed as whoever it was soon hovered over him, and Peter got a good look at this new character. He was wearing some kind of green and purple costume and a grotesque, hideous goblin-like mask that somehow moved as if it were the person's own face. Maybe it was. 

Peter made sure to stand in between the man and this danger. Whoever this new player in the game was, they had moved so they were blocking the ways to the stairs and the window. 

"Well, well, well," the man before them finally spoke up in a high pitched voice. It might honestly have been the most evil sounding noise Peter had ever heard, and it sent shivers down his spine. "It looks like one friendly neighborhood Spider-Man came out to play after all," the man continued, bending his knees to lower his position on his glider. The masked figure tilted his head as if he were studying them. 

"Look man," Peter said, somehow maintaining a calm exterior demeanor, "it's way too far past Halloween, so why don't you go find a place to change out of that ridiculous outfit, and me and my friend here will just..." 

"A ha ha ha ha ha ha!!" the goblin character cackled loudly, as if that was the funniest thing he had ever heard. "Oh don't worry Spider-Man, I intend to leave. I still have a city to bring to it's knees." He then pulled out what looked like some kind of detonation device; was he the one who did this, and was he planning on blowing the building up EVEN MORE!? 

"You, on the other hand," and the goblin smiled wide as he pressed the button. 

BOOM!!

Peter could faintly hear the goblin cackling loudly as he made his escape through the window that was his exit plan originally, but debris quickly descended on him and the terrified civilian he was trying to protect. At the same time, the floor had given out beneath them, and Peter and the civilian fell the remaining four floors down. Peter caught the man and set him down by his feet before also catching a chunk of debris, and could only hold it up as more and more came down. As he strained against the weight that was quickly adding up, Peter caught the man's eyes for a moment, there was a look of desperation, of pleading on the man's face, as if he were wordlessly begging his hero to save him, somehow. This reinforced Peter's determination, and he gritted his teeth and forced himself to hold the weight, even as more and more kept coming down. He was eventually forced to his knees by the sheer mass of debris that he was somehow maintaining over himself and the man, who was now lying down at his feet. 

Peter cried out in desperation, fighting with everything he had. There was nothing but darkness around them now as he could do nothing but hold on. His thoughts shifted to M.J, May and Ned, and he held onto the images of their faces as he tried to hold, fighting as the building gradually came down on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally got to introduce the Goblin. Hope you liked it!
> 
> Thank you for those who left comments and kudos. I know I keep saying it, but your support really does mean everything to me. I am truly grateful :) 
> 
> Stay safe and healthy out there everyone! 
> 
> "What do you think?" Matthew 18:10-14


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter wasn't sure how long he and the man had been buried, but it had felt like an eternity already. Once the building had finished coming down, a small amount of the strain from the weight had been lifted, likely due to the building cascading down haphazardly all around them instead of cleanly in it's own footprint. All that to say, the weight on his shoulders was still tremendous. He had taken a couple brief opportunities to web up a couple spots for additional support. The civilian who was with him had called out for help repeatedly in a panic, screaming that he was claustrophobic and needed to get out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter: M.J. and May come together, and Peter fights to hold on.

It had taken a couple of hours, but M.J. had finally got her mom to rest. It had been an eventful afternoon to say the least, but her mom had insisted on taking care of some things around the apartment, saying that keeping busy would help her to keep her mind off of everything. M.J. had conceded to this, but when she could tell her mom was exhausted, she finally convinced her to rest. It was almost funny to her in a way, because most teenagers were the ones getting told by their parents to go to their rooms, yet here she was with the roles reversed, making sure her mom went to hers. 

With her mom resting, M.J. decided to turn on the TV, planning on watching the latest episode of "I Survived." She enjoyed watching the true stories of people surviving the most harrowing experiences and she felt there was always something she could learn from them. It never hurts to be prepared, after all. The channel that came on first was the news, which she would've immediately changed it from if the headline hadn't caught her eye. 

BREAKING NEWS: SPIDER-MAN AND CIVILIAN TRAPPED UNDER COLLAPSED OSCORP TOWER. 

M.J. dropped the remote as she could only stare at the headline in shock. The footage showed what was once Oscorp tower completely destroyed, reduced to a mountain of rubble. Peter was under there. 

No. This couldn't be happening. 

She couldn't move, her eyes glued to the screen as if she had been hypnotized by it. 

No no no no no....

A reporter came on the screen and discussed how multiple civilians shared how Spider-Man had rescued them. Witness after witness testified to how he went level by level and rescued several of them. Hearing this broke M.J. as tears began to form in her eyes and her lip quivered. So many emotions were flooding her right now: shock, then pride for Peter's bravery, which then lead to hurt as she thought of how unfair it was for him. Peter was out there, making sure everyone else was safe, so why did HE have to be the one stuck in there? Yet, the answer was obvious: there was still a civilian there who needed saving. It was just like him to make sure no one was left behind. 

"When you can do the things that I can, but you don't, and then the bad things happen....they happen because of you." Peter had told her that when he first shared about what had happened to his uncle. Ben had tried to teach him that with great power, there must also come great responsibility, and Peter had neglected that, which was part of what lead to his uncle's death. Now, here he was, having learned his lesson, and he might be about to...nope nope not going to think that way. 

M.J. finally forced her eyes away from the screen as she picked up the remote and turned it off. By now, tears had come streaming down her cheek; she was grateful her mom was upstairs resting right now and wasn't around to see her like this. She didn't want to have to make up some excuse to her mom behind why she was being so emotional. She also realized that there was someone else who was likely worried about Peter right now. She reached to her side and picked up her phone off the armrest of the couch, finding and dialing the number of one May Parker. 

"Hello?" M.J. could imagine May not even looking at the name on the phone before she answered. 

"Hi May, it's M.J." she managed to get out as she wiped more tears from her eyes. "Ha...have you seen the news?"

"Yes. How are you holding up dear?" Oh my goodness, those Parker people and their selfless concern for others. Here May was, Peter's MOTHER for all intents and purposes, also seeing that the boy she raised being trapped under a destroyed building, yet the first thing May takes the time to ask is if SHE is okay! 

"I'm...can I come over? I don't want you to be alone." This was true, but if M.J. was being honest, SHE didn't want to be alone right now either. 

"Yes of course dear; that would be nice," May responded. 

"Okay, be there soon." M.J. promptly hung up and left a note for her mom, just in case she came back down, saying she was going to the Parker's. She grabbed her jacket and was out the door in a hurry. 

She arrived at the Parker's apartment and knocked on the door. "Come in M.J," she heard from inside, and promptly opened the door to let herself in. She took off her jacket, hanging it up on a coat rack just to the right of the door. She walked into the living room to find May sitting on the couch, eyes glued to the TV in a manner similar to how hers were earlier. M.J. made her way over and sat down right next to May. 

For a few minutes, neither of them said a word, eyes and ears trained to the TV so they wouldn't miss anything. Finally, M.J. spoke up. 

"He'll make it, May. He has to." Her face was tense as the words came out, with it taking all of her will power to hold in the boiling emotions that were threatening to explode. 

May said nothing in response, her face not even flinching in the slightest. M.J. got up and got in between May and the TV, getting down on a knee in front of the woman. She had to make her believe it. Maybe she needed to make herself believe it. 

"May, listen to me:he's going to make it, alright?" May's eyes finally met hers, and M.J. could see a pain inside of them, but also a familiarity. She had been through this before, not just worrying about Peter, but actually losing someone. Her husband. The love of her life. 

"I hope so," May finally muttered. M.J. couldn't discern either hope or despair in her voice. It just...was. 

"He's going to, I know it," M.J. continued. She was not going to let May lose faith, not for a second. She couldn't afford to see that. "He's survived so much, he can make it out of this, right?" She forced a smile on her face as she fought back tears once more. 

May was silent again, looking at M.J. with something with something she couldn't quite discern in her eyes. It was killing her to see May like this. 

"Right?" M.J. repeated, a hesitancy in her voice this time as a tear escaped her eye despite her efforts. 

May reached out and gently grabbed M.J.'s arms with her own hands, sending chills through her spine as she looked down at them before returning to May's eyes again. 

"No matter what, we have to be strong for him dear." 

"No, no no no he's going to be fine," M.J. said as she stood up and turned to face towards the kitchen, taking a couple of steps and putting her hands on the back of her head. "He's going to fine," she repeated. 

"M.J..." 

"I'M NOT LOSING HIM MAY!" M.J. yelled as she turned back towards her. Immediately she covered her mouth with both of her hands and her eyes widened in shock at how she had addressed the woman she had grown to consider a second mother. There appeared to be no anger in May's eyes, which made her feel even worse. 

"I'm sorry, May," she began as she came back, sitting next to her as she continued, "I didn't mean to come off so strong. It's just..." She paused for a moment, but May said nothing; rather her eyes seemed to indicate that M.J. should continue, so she did. "It's just that I have always had trouble getting close to people in my life. My dad died, then my mom went to work, I just...he was the first person in a long time to show that I MEANT something to them, you know? He respects me and likes me for ME, and that...I could never put into words how much..."

"How much you love him for it," May said, finishing her sentence for her. M.J. looked at her with a surprise in her eyes. 

"Yeah." 

"Peter told me about how you two told each other that for the first time on Thanksgiving," May said, smiling. 

"He did?" M.J. asked curiously. 

"He said when he blurted it out, he thought he ruined the moment, but then he said you had the biggest, most beautiful smile on your face when you told him that you felt the same." May put her left hand on M.J.'s shoulder, smiling at her before she continued. "Dear, trust me, from just the humongous grin on his face, I could tell he knew how much you loved him." 

"Really?" M.J. blurted out, a sad but still joyful smile beginning to stretch out across her face. 

"Really," May responded. 

"Thank you, May," M.J. said, once again wiping tears from her face. When this was over, she was going to look up how many tears the human eyes could generate, because she was pretty sure she could go on for a while, given everything she was feeling. She reached out and hugged May, who pulled her in and returned it. They sat there and waited, and after a little while they were joined by Ned, who had also decided to come see May in the wake of everything. Together, they all sat and waited for any news. 

Peter wasn't sure how long he and the man had been buried, but it had felt like an eternity already. Once the building had finished coming down, a small amount of the strain from the weight had been lifted, likely due to the building cascading down haphazardly all around them instead of cleanly in it's own footprint. All that to say, the weight on his shoulders was still tremendous. He had taken a couple brief opportunities to web up a couple spots for additional support. The civilian who was with him had called out for help repeatedly in a panic, screaming that he was claustrophobic and needed to get out. Despite Peter's best attempts to calm him down, the man had passed out a while back from the stress of it all. 

By now, most of Peter's body was shaking. His muscles had been at almost full exertion for what had been likely at least an hour, if not two, and he felt like he too might pass out at any point. Any time he started to feel dizzy, he would force himself to picture his loved ones. He would think of Ned and the excited looks he would give anytime Peter would share stories of his adventures as Spider-Man. He thought of May and the calm, nurturing demeanor she always wore on her face that was always so reassuring. He thought of M.J, wondering back to when he told her he loved her for the first time. She had a smile on her face that was more beautiful than anything he had ever seen before. He had to get out of this. He had to, for them; for HER. 

He suddenly heard voices calling from outside. 

"Hello? Is anyone in there?"

"Here, we're in here!" Peter yelled with what strength he had left to do so. In addition to the weight, all of the dust had been making it more and more difficult to breathe well under his mask.

"We're coming, just hold on," the voices yelled back. 

At the same time, Peter noticed the weight he was holding up becoming lighter. A search and rescue crew must've been out there taking apart the destroyed remains, trying to make sure the building didn't collapse even more during a rescue effort. Made sense. 

Eventually, Peter saw the outside once again as a crew managed to make their way in. It was dark out now, so the rescue crew were all wearing headlights.

"Take him first," Peter insisted, nodding to the still passed out civilian below. "I think he had a panic attack; he mentioned being claustrophobic." 

Two members of the crew picked up the man by his arms and legs and hauled him out. A couple more then set up multiple titanium reinforced weight poles to hold the debris up and prevent the collapse of what they couldn't remove. Peter remembered Tony saying something a while back about Stark Industries inventing things like this to hold tremendous weight, with its main purpose to buy rescue workers more time if they were conducting a particularly delicate rescue. He never imagined HE would fall into that category though. 

Once the poles were set up, a couple of them threw one of Peter's arms across each of their shoulders and they helped him out. They made their way outside of the rubble, where Peter saw Captain Stacy. 

"Thank you for everything boys," Peter said to both of his rescuers, looking to his right then his left, "but I need to have a word with the captain over there. Besides, I'm sure there are a lot people who need you all more than me right now. 

One of the rescue guys tried to put up an argument, but Peter eventually won out. They lead him over to the captain and Peter leaned heavily on the man's car to keep from collapsing. 

"Are you alright?" the captain asked, a genuine look of concern on his face. "I think you should see a medic before..."

"I don't know who it was," Peter said, cutting to the chase, "but some guy in a goblin costume did this." 

"Excuse me?" the captain said. "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said," Peter insisted. Every word felt like a struggle to get out. His whole body felt weak. "He said that he had a city to take over, or something like that. I don't know who he is, but this...this was just the beginning." 

"Understood," the captain said, before reaching over to try and help him. "Son, we really need to get you checked out," 

"Don't worry about me sir," Peter said, pulling away slightly despite still leaning on the car. "I'm a fast healer. I just need to get home and rest." 

"I really don't think..."

"Trust me, captain," Peter insisted. 

"Alright, but don't you dare go back out into the field until you are rested and recovered," Captain Stacy said sternly. 

"Wouldn't dream of it sir." 

"At least let one of us drive you home," came another voice who stepped out from behind the captain. 

It was Yuri. 

"Thanks, but no thanks," Peter said, trying to sound as polite as possible. "If anyone sees me going in and using the stairs or the elevator, it could come back to bite me and the people I care about. Please, guys, I have to do this on my own. 

Before they could give an answer, he put all his strength into firing a web and hoisting himself off of the ground. As he made his way home, his swings were no where near as powerful as they usually were, and he had less distance than normal in between webs released to ease how hard he had to hold on, but eventually, he made it to the roof of his apartment building. Slowly, making sure his spider-sense wasn't indicating his being watched he made his way though his window, where he was greeted by his three favorite people. 

"Peter oh my goodness, are you okay dude?" Ned asked. 

"Yeah Ned, I'm fine," he answered, but when he tried to take a step, he dropped to his hands and knees on the floor. The three of them gathered around his limp form and helped him onto his bed, removing his mask as well. 

"Are you hurting anywhere in particular dear? You need some Ibuprofen or something?" May asked. 

"No thanks, May," Peter stammered, his eyes almost closed already. "I just need to rest; thanks for waiting up for me by the way." 

"It's what we're here for Peter," May said. "We'll get out of your way now," she added, and her and Ned filed out first with M.J. behind them. 

"M.J, wait," Peter said, and she turned and walked back towards him, sitting down gently on the bed. 

"Yes?" she asked, and Peter could see the marks of tears on her face. He reached up slowly, putting his gloved hand on the back of her head, pulling her towards him gently as he rose his head up a little, and their lips met in a gentle kiss. 

"I love you," he said quietly once their lips parted. 

"I love you too," she said, and that familiar smile came across her face once again. 

That was the last image Peter saw before he laid his head back down and promptly passed out from sheer exhaustion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter ended up being longer than I expected, largely because the section with M.J. was supposed to be about half the length it was. As I wrote it, I just kept going; it almost felt like the story itself took over. I hope you all like it! Feel free to leave your thoughts, good or bad, in the comments.
> 
> Thank you to those who left comments on kudos in both the last chapter and all the others. Seriously, your all's support is phenomenal. I know this is my third multi-chapter story, but I still feel very new at this, so the support I get from you guys encourages me greatly in this. 
> 
> Stay safe and healthy everyone! 
> 
> "On hearing this, Jesus said..." Matthew 9:9-13


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Peter's eyes slowly opened and his room came into focus. He tilted his head slightly to the side and glanced out into his room, which was clearly illuminated by the sun as it cascaded light through his window. It must have been awfully late...wait, what time was it anyway? He found his phone lying near the end of his bed on the far end of his desk, and he reached out and tapped the screen to see the time: 3:37 P.M.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter: May making Peter rest, Peter enjoying some quality time with M.J, and the Green Goblin gets to work.

Peter's eyes slowly opened and his room came into focus. He tilted his head slightly to the side and glanced out into his room, which was clearly illuminated by the sun as it cascaded light through his window. It must have been awfully late...wait, what time was it anyway? He found his phone lying near the end of his bed on the far end of his desk, and he reached out and tapped the screen to see the time: 3:37 P.M. 

Wait, he had missed school!? He decided he needed to hurry if he was at least going to get to the lab for his work with Dr. Connors for the day. He was about to tap the spider symbol on his suit to make it puff out, so he could take it off, when he heard a knock on his door.

"Good to see you're awake," his aunt said with what Peter had come to recognize as a smile of relief on her face. 

"May, how long was I asleep?" Peter asked. 

"A little over 18 hours," she stated as if it were no big deal. 

18 HOURS!?" Peter questioned. "May, I missed school for the day!" 

"Yeah, you also held up a good chunk of a building for hours yesterday," she said as she took a few steps toward him. "When you got home last night, you couldn't hardly stand up on your own. Your body needed time to do its thing."

Peter had to concede to that. Even with all the rest, he still felt a little weaker than normal, but it was a lot better than when he had went to bed. Suddenly, he remembered something. 

"Did they say anything about the guy who was in there with me?" he asked, his voice laced with concern. 

"He's going to be fine," May reassured him. "He had a few burns and cuts, and he was freaking out a lot at first, but he settled down and is doing a lot better."

"Good," Peter said as he closed his eyes and let out a breath of relief. He then decided to ask a bigger question, and his nerves returned as he spoke: "Was...was there anyone that didn't make it?" 

"Peter, don't do that," May said with a gentle look. 

"Was there?" he repeated. 

"Yes, Peter, there were some that didn't make it, but I already know what you're doing. You can't blame yourself for that," May said. 

Peter's eyes dropped towards his feet. He then felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked up to meet his aunt's determined eyes. 

"Listen to me: you did everything you could," May said, and there was an intense expression in her eyes that Peter felt was almost overpowering. "Do you hear me? You can't change anything; you can only learn and keep giving your best." 

Peter let out a deep breath he didn't even realize he had taken in. "I know, May," he said. It didn't make him feel much better, but he knew she was right. He just hated the thought of even ONE life dying under his watch; the thought of even one family having to learn that someone important to them wasn't coming home anymore. He was trying his best to learn not to dwell on things like that, but it was easier said than done. 

"I need to get ready to head to the lab later," Peter said. He wanted to go there anyway, because he loved the job, but he also felt that he would be able to take his mind at least somewhat off his thoughts if he gave himself something to focus on, and the lab usually provided plenty to do. 

"Oh no you don't," his aunt insisted, "you're staying here. No patrolling tonight either." 

"May," he whined. "I promise, I'm fine." 

"You will be," she said as if she were correcting him. "You still need to rest. I already called the Connors' and explained why you weren't going to be there." 

"Seriously, May, even if I don't go to the lab, I need to get out there," Peter said, gesturing towards the window. "Whoever caused that explosion is still out there. I have to stop them." 

"You will," May said, "when you're back to 100%. Besides, M.J. is coming over soon, and I promised her that you would be here all evening to grace her with your presence as a thank you for all the note taking she did for you today."

"May," Peter whined again. "Don't do that." She didn't often do it, but in instances like this, her and M.J. would often team up against him to coax him into staying home. He hated it.

"No arguments, Peter. You don't want to disappoint your girlfriend, do you?" 

There it was, the classic expression she ALWAYS used against him in this kind of situation. M.J. and May had always been understanding when he had to rush out all of a sudden to take care of something as Spider-Man, but as soon as he got hurt, they all of a sudden would play on his emotions to fully get him to come around. He couldn't stay mad at them for it though. He was often pretty stubborn about this kind of thing, his aunt was usually right when it came to most things, and M.J. was, well, M.J. 

May walked out of the room, leaving Peter the opportunity to finally change out of his Spider-Man suit. He decided to take a quick shower since he had a little extra time on his hands after all, but what was intended to be only 5 minutes turned into 20. He couldn't help it; the hot water just felt so good and relaxing against his still worn out body. 

When he got out, he put on a button up shirt with a white t-shirt underneath and the first pair of jeans he could find. While he waited for M.J, he decided to look online to see if any information had come out regarding the tower incident. There wasn't much about the goblin-like figure he saw; only a couple mentions here and there about someone on a glider of some kind coming out of the building, but there weren't even any pictures or footage of...whoever it was. He did see something about Norman Osborn issuing a statement on the incident that morning, saying that he intends to assist completely in the investigation ("yeah, right," he thought), and that whoever did this wasn't going to get away with it. 

As he was looking into it all, he got a text from Ned: 

"Hey man, May said you were awake! Feeling better?"

Peter smiled, glad to hear from his best friend as he typed out his response: "Yeah man, I'm about 85% there." 

"Okay. Your Guy In The Chair is always there if you need him :)" came Ned's response, and Peter rapidly typed out his next one:

"Thanks man! I appreciate you bro!" 

"Always!" Ned exclaimed in word form back to him. 

Next thing he knew, M.J. had arrived. They caught up on how school had been that day during dinner; basically, it sounded no more eventful than usual. May went upstairs after dinner to let the two of them have some quality time. 

"Want to knock out a puzzle or something?" Peter asked. 

"Nah; how about a movie?" M.J. responded. This struck Peter as a little odd. His girlfriend wasn't averse to movies by any means, but she almost always preferred doing something more intellectually stimulating first. More than that though, she seemed...distant. It wasn't that she didn't want to be there, but she seemed off somehow. 

"Well, she did almost lose her mom and me in the same day," he thought to himself after a moment, and conceded to her idea. He suggested one of his favorite animated classics, The Sword In The Stone, and she offered no argument. He got some snacks, including some vegetarian stuff he kept just for when she came over, and brought it over to the couch. He put in the movie and sat down on the couch, with M.J. sitting right up against him, resting her head against his left shoulder and putting her right hand on his leg. 

Peter noticed as the movie went on, M.J. gradually got more and more snug on him, and he eventually leaned forward so she could wrap an arm around his back. Her squeeze wasn't hurting him, but it definitely was noticeable, like he was going to be taken away from her any second. He hated seeing his girlfriend this way, because he knew it meant she was scared; scared of him leaving her one day in some horrific and terrible manner. 

"You okay?" he asked her in a gentle, soft voice. They had come to an understanding where, if his voice was easy and quiet like it was in this instance, she didn't have to answer, and she took that liberty here with her words. She did squeeze him a little tighter though, like she was just telling him to stay. He gave her a gentle kiss on the top of her head, trying to reassure her that he was HERE, that he was WITH HER. It seemed to work a little, as her body became less tense and her grip relaxed slightly. 

"Thank you M.J." he said, looking down at her. 

She turned her head and looked into his eyes with a bit of confusion in her own. "For what?" 

"For being here right now," Peter said, hesitating a little, trying to find the right words, before continuing, "and supporting me. You put up with so much..."

Suddenly, he felt her put a finger against his lips, and she just stared at him for a moment before leaning in and pressing a kiss against his lips. It was somehow both fierce and gentle at the same time, and after a moment she pulled away, looking deeply into his eyes. 

"You can pay me back by not letting me go," she said. Surprisingly, there wasn't any of her trademark sarcasm or deadpan self in her words; it almost sounded nothing like her. She sounded so gentle, so...vulnerable. 

This time it was him leaning towards her, pressing a kiss against her lips that somehow tried to convey everything he felt about her. He felt her gently put her left hand on his cheek, and for a moment, they seemed to melt into each other, time frozen for everything and everyone but the two of them. 

He finally pulled away, looked directly into her eyes, and smiled. 

"Absolutely." 

"So what are we gonna do?" a man at the table questioned. He was surrounded by four other men; they were Hammerhead's inner circle, his most trusted associates. Now, they were trying to figure out what to do with their boss being locked away. No visitors were allowed, so they had no way of being in touch with him. 

"It's going to be business as usual; we still have a job to do you know," said the man directly across from him. 

"Oh come on man," said another man near the corner of the table, "now is our time to reevaluate. Business as usual is what got us in this mess in the first place!" 

"No, what got us here in the first place is cowards like you who run at the first sight of cops or Spider-Man!" another man shouted. 

The first man tried to reestablish some kind of order, but it seemed to be no use; they were at each other's throats like they had been ever since Hammerhead's arrest. They were shouting and even threatening each other, getting absolutely no where as a result. 

Suddenly, an explosion went off, destroying the wall to the side of them and sending the men flying in all directions. The first man gathered himself just in time to see a figure in green and purple hovering slowly into the room on some kind of glider. 

"Gentlemen, please," the figure said in higher, almost ghastly voice. "I, the Green Goblin, have the solution to your troubles: I am taking over this operation, effective immediately!" 

The first man looked in confusion at the Goblin. Who was this guy? Whoever he was, he clearly meant business, but they couldn't just LET him take over like this. Could they? 

"Yeah, right," said one of the other men. "You don't just come into Hammerhead territory like it's your own." The man drew a gun on the Goblin, who promptly threw some kind of double ended blade at him, knocking the gun out of his hand. The Goblin then rested his glider down on the ground and stepped off of it, approaching the man, who threw a punch at the Goblin. The green and purple figure caught it, squeezing until the man dropped to his knees in pain. 

"Alright alright!" the man cried out. "You win!" 

The Goblin chuckled in a way that sent shivers down the spine of the first man. "Of course I win," the Goblin said, bringing his face closer "but you see, I need your comrades here to know what happens when someone tries to stand up to me." 

The Goblin then grabbed the one who had attacked him by the throat and squeezed. The man struggled, trying to break free, but it was no use. The Goblin's smile only grew wider as the man's face grew more and more pale, and finally he released his grip on the man, who collapsed lifelessly on the ground, dead. 

"Now then, are there any more who are opposed to my leadership?" the Goblin asked, looking around and meeting the eyes of every man there. The first man shook his head vehemently, and the others joined in as they all glanced around at each other, almost looking out to make sure they were all in agreement. 

"Excellent," the Goblin replied. "Now, get up. We have work to do."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What did you guys think? 
> 
> Once more, thank you to those who have left feedback in comments and kudos and bookmarks as well. I truly appreciate your support, and I hope I can continue to write a story worthy of it. 
> 
> Stay safe and health everyone! 
> 
> "And who is my neighbor?" Luke 10:25-37


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After school and his usual work at the lab, Peter set out on patrol, determined to find any clue as to the whereabouts of the mysterious goblin figure he had seen at Oscorp. He had been looking to see if he could find any information, utilizing news outlets, the police radio, social media sightings, etc, but there was nothing. Whoever it was, it was as if they had vanished into thin air; that is until Peter got a call from Captain Stacy. 
> 
> "Can you check out something for me?" the captain inquired.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter: A dose of Peter and Ned being best buds, a dose of Peter and M.J. as Chem lab partners, and shot of Peter taking on the Green Goblin as Spider-Man.

Peter & M.J. had just gotten to his locker when he saw his best friend out of the corner of his eye come up to him, and before he knew it, he was wrapped in the biggest bear hug in history. 

"Peter, oh my goodness, I'm glad you're alright!" Ned exclaimed. 

"Yeah man; you didn't think I was going to just let you set the world record for largest Lego set ever constructed on your own, did you?" Peter questioned back at his friend in jest. 

"Wow dude, I saw the footage like a million times!" Ned said even as he released Peter from his grip. "How did you make it out of there? How much weight do you think you were holding up? What about that weird Goblin dude you saw? Do you think that was actually his face or just a mask? How do you plan to catch him? What about..." 

"Dude, keep it down!" Peter exclaimed with a hushed intensity. Between himself and his best friend, he had no idea how his secret identity was still intact. He shot a glance at M.J, who was standing next to him and rolling her eyes at both of them. 

"I seriously think you dorks just need to schedule a once a week Q&A session, where dork #1 gets all his questions out and dork #2 gets to indulge him," M.J. said dryly. "Really, I think it would be quite therapeutic for you two." 

"Okay, first of all, once a week wouldn't NEARLY be enough," Peter replied. "Second, I thought I was dork #1?" he questioned with a small pout on his face.

"Well...maybe to me at least," M.J. teased, giving him a wink and then a bump on the shoulder with her own as she started walking down the hall to the first class of the day. Peter couldn't help holding his gaze on her as she walked away before being brought back to reality by the waving of a hand in front of his face. 

"Hello, earth to Peter?" Ned questioned. 

"Yeah yeah, I'm here," Peter responded, pushing Ned's hand away with his own. 

"You sure about that?" Ned teased, a huge grin on his face. 

"Like you don't do the same thing when Betty's around," Peter said.

"What does he do when I'm around?" Betty asked, suddenly coming up beside Ned. 

"Uhh, uhh nothing!" Ned responded, his eyes suddenly growing about 4 times wider. Peter had to turn away for a moment to hide the massive smile that was forming on his face and the laughter that was threatening to spill out of him. 

"You sure about that?" Betty teased, and Peter noticed a she was forming a mischievous grin of her own on her face. 

"Uh huh, yeah, pretty sure," Ned said, clearly struggling to regain himself. 

"Okay then," Betty said, her smile not going away. "See you guys at lunch!" 

"See you later," Peter responded, waving politely as she walked away. 

"Yeah, bye," Ned said, his voice just now beginning to sound like a semblance of its normal self. Peter turned and met his eyes. 

"You did that on purpose!" Ned said accusingly to Peter. 

"Nothing you haven't done to me before," Peter responded, giving a playful punch to his friend's shoulder before jogging off down the hall to his first class of the day. 

"Oh it's on now!" Peter heard his best friend call out to him. 

The only really good days of 1st period Chemistry were the lab days, because Peter got to spend the entire period working directly with M.J. He was really very proud of the two of them, because most couples in school tended to struggle when assigned to things like this, but he and M.J. had gotten into a comfortable rhythm working together, and by now it had become second nature. Also, they had the two highest grades in the class, so there was that too. 

Today, they were working on growing silver crystals. Peter was excited to learn about this, as he hoped he could apply it by growing some of his own one day and making it into some kind of jewelry for M.J. He made sure to keep that idea to himself however; he was determined that any such plan would unfold right this time, instead of the unfortunate disaster that had been getting her the black dahlia necklace (which he couldn't help but notice she still wore everyday). 

"Oh, I never got a chance to ask yesterday: how's your mom doing?" Peter asked as they worked through organizing what they would need. 

"She's okay," M.J. responded as she continued to work. The two of them had practically mastered the art of talking while staying productive. "She's still a bit shaken up, even if she tries to act like she isn't." 

"Makes sense," Peter responded as he gathered the materials he needed in his hands to really begin with their little experiment. "What does she think about what happened with the Oscorp tower?" 

"Her reaction's been pretty mixed really," M.J. responded, taking some of the materials from his hands. "She liked a fair amount of the people she worked with there, so she's quietly grieving those of them that died and is upset that others will be out of a job indefinitely, but I think part of her is happy to see something bad happen to Osborn, even if she won't admit that either."

Peter found it hard not to share both of those sentiments. While this whole thing wouldn't come close to stopping Norman, it would surely cost him to some degree, and he wasn't exactly shedding any tears over that. On the other hand, he had had a hard time sleeping the previous night, as his thoughts kept wondering back to the people he didn't save, and the fact that those people likely had families who were grieving them, all because he failed. May was trying really hard to get him out of that kind of that mentality, but it felt so ingrained into his being that he was pretty sure that was never going to happen. 

"Honestly," M.J. started up again, bringing Peter out of his own head, "part of me thinks she's kind of lucky. I mean, if she still had her job, and had been there that day..." her voice trailed off, and Peter glanced over at her to see her staring at what appeared to be nothing in particular before looking down at their workspace. He set down the materials in his hands for a moment and gently put a hand on her shoulder. She turned, her eyes meeting his, and she gave a quick, appreciative nod that was accompanied by a small smile. They resumed their work, talking about whatever came into their heads along the way. 

After school and his usual work at the lab, Peter set out on patrol, determined to find any clue as to the whereabouts of the mysterious goblin figure he had seen at Oscorp. He had been looking to see if he could find any information, utilizing news outlets, the police radio, social media sightings, etc, but there was nothing. Whoever it was, it was as if they had vanished into thin air; that is until Peter got a call from Captain Stacy. 

"Can you check out something for me?" the captain inquired. 

"Yes sir, especially if it'll get me back on the trail of that goblin guy again." Peter shook his head; the name "goblin guy" was definitely going to have to be work shopped. 

"That's actually why I'm calling; there was a rumored sighting out near an old building that used to be an Oscorp weapons testing facility on the west side, over by one of the ports. I'm sending you the location." 

"Understood; be there in no time!" Peter assured the captain.

Within minutes, he arrived at the location of the supposed sighting, perching himself a distance away from the building itself. The place appeared deserted enough, but Peter had learned that appearances were often deceiving. He took one last survey of the area and was just about to swing onto the building when...

BOOM! 

Just like Oscorp tower, the building exploded into flame, though this one fell apart a lot quicker. However, Peter noticed another familiar sight come flying in his general direction: a goblin like figure, clad in green and purple, wearing that same hideous smile on his face and cackling the same maniacal cackle. He flew past Peter off to the side, apparently, not noticing him, since the building he was perched on partially blocked his being visible. Peter fired a web, sticking it to the back of the glider. He pulled tight, stopping it dead in its tracks. 

"Woah, slow up Gobby," Peter shouted to get the Goblin's attention. "Not even a hello this time?" 

"Actually, I was hoping to run into you sooner rather than later," the Goblin shouted back before turning the glider around and heading straight in the direction of the figure in red and black. Peter jumped over top of the glider, still holding onto the web latched onto it as it took off into the sky. 

"What did you need out of a rusty old dump like that place?" Peter shouted over the roaring engine of the glider. 

"Oh, just a few surprises for you," the Goblin called out. "Like these!" 

Suddenly, the Goblin released a barrage of small, round orange things that exploded all around Peter. He let go of the web attached to the glider, letting himself fall out of the range of the bombs before firing another a web at a nearby building, pulling himself through the smoke. The Goblin's laughter betrayed his location, and Peter came flying in with a right hook to the side of the Goblin's face. Momentarily stunned, Peter's adversary recovered quickly, grabbing Peter by the arm and letting him dangle behind the glider as they approached another building. Peter smashed against the windows, shattering them in mass. Thankfully, he was only experiencing minimal tearing in his suit thanks to a new, sturdier material he had added to it recently, which was also protecting him from not getting a lot of cuts either. 

Regaining himself, Peter grabbed the Goblin's arm with his other hand, steadying himself just enough, and bringing his legs forward, kicking his enemy in the backside, knocking him off the glider. They both flew through the air, each landing gracefully on the roof of a nearby building. 

"Nice job, Gobby: solid eight out of ten!" Peter called out. "Now, are you coming with me peacefully?"

The Goblin only shook his head. "Oh, Spider-Man, you still have no idea what you're dealing with." The Goblin lunged towards Peter, snagging him by the leg as he tried to dodge his adversary. The Goblin repeatedly slammed him against the roof of the building before hoisting him upside down. 

"All too easy," the Goblin taunted, and pulled out some kind of orange thing similar to what the bombs looked like, only this time there were metal shards that protruded from it. Fortunately, Peter was just playing possum, and he grabbed the Goblin by his arms and flipped forward, throwing the Goblin near the edge of the building as he landed on his feet. 

"Okay, let me make something perfectly clear: you have NOTHING on Darth Vader!" Peter shouted, referring to the likely unintentional quote that the Goblin had just used from Empire Strikes Back. Seriously, who did this cackling madman think he was? 

"Looks like it was actually I who underestimated you," the Goblin said as he rose to his feet. He tapped a button on the left arm of his suit, and Peter had to jump out of the way as the glider came rocketing in behind him. The Goblin jumped on board, but didn't go flying off just yet. "Oh, don't worry Spider-Man, I still have big plans for this city...and for you. However, Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was the empire of the Green Goblin. Ta ta, Spider-Man!" 

Peter tried to fire another web at the back of the glider as the Goblin took off again, but this time his adversary was prepared, throwing one of those bladed things he had tried to kill Peter with earlier to cut the web. The Goblin then disappeared into the sky. 

After a few minutes of trying to pick up the Goblin's trail again, Peter realized it was no use. Reluctantly, he contacted the captain. 

"What happened back there?" the captain inquired. His tone didn't seem angry, just genuinely wanting to know. 

"Whoever this guy is, he's got a thing for blowing stuff up," Peter replied. 

"Did he talk at all?" the captain asked. 

"He talked plenty, but not in the useful way," Peter replied. "The only thing he really told me was that he calls himself, 'The Green Goblin'." 

"I see," Captain Stacy replied. "Whoever this is, they seem to have a thing against Norman Osborn, going after various properties of his." 

"Likely it's someone who has some kind of inside knowledge," Peter added. "I highly doubt that just anyone could have destroyed Oscorp tower like that." 

"Now you're starting to think like a cop," the captain said, and Peter swore the the man might have almost mildly chuckled. 

"Eh, a detective at best," Peter replied. 

"I'll start compiling and going through a list of people who would have a grudge against Norman; disgruntled employees, competitors, etc. You just keep your eyes peeled for the Goblin. Whoever he is, he's dangerous, and from the way you describe him, unstable. He needs to be taken down, whatever it takes," the captain said. 

"Yes sir," Peter replied before hanging up. He thought back to all the damage the Goblin had caused in the last couple of days alone; all the property destroyed and the jobs wiped out. Then there were the lives lost...

"Whatever it takes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all like it! 
> 
> Also, I have question for those who have been following my work: I have a couple ideas stewing around in my head about stuff other than this story; two ideas that would both a series of one shots. The first is centered on the idea of performing a good deed of some sort each chapter, either as Peter or as Spider-Man. These would range from little things, like Peter saving an older lady from her bakery getting robbed, to more heavy emotional stuff, like Peter talking down someone from committing suicide. 
> 
> The other idea is a collection of events in the lives of M.J. and Peter, told from M.J. perspective in the form of her journal writings. Each entry would focus on a different event, like Peter fighting a particular villain, him taking care of her when she got sick, the first time they said they loved each other, their wedding, etc. 
> 
> Both of these would be unrelated to the stories I have written so far, and will be set all over the map, some going against canon more than others. 
> 
> So what do you guys think: the good deeds of a friendly neighborhood Spider-Man, or M.J.'s Journal Entries? Let me know your thoughts on this as well as the chapter in the comments. I highly value your opinions on both parts :)
> 
> Stay safe and healthy! 
> 
> "I am worn out calling for help, my throat is parched. My eyes fail..." Psalm 69


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "So, I actually wanted to ask you two something," Peter said, happy to change the subject. Both Ned and M.J. turned towards him with curious looks on their faces, giving him their full attention. 
> 
> "Pepper said I can have access to Tony's lab at the lakehouse whenever I wanted. I figured this evening I could go up there and review the footage of my fight with the Goblin from last night, and I wondered if you guys wanted to come look at it with me. I figure that 3 pairs of eyes are better than one; maybe you all might pick up on something I wouldn't see," he reasoned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter, Peter, M.J. and Ned do a little detective work, while Captain Stacy and Yuri conduct a little investigation that introduces a mysterious new figure, and a shocking discovery is made. 
> 
> Also guest starring brief appearances from Pepper Potts and Morgan Stark.

As he made his way to school the next morning, Peter checked various news outlets to see if his fight with the Green Goblin had made any headlines. Contrary to their first encounter at Oscorp, this one was EVERYWHERE. There were even a couple pictures some people had taken on their phones, though they weren't exactly of the best quality. The bottom line was that everyone was wondering who this new masked menace was that was terrorizing the city, and some expressed concern at Spider-Man's lack of ability to stop him. Peter had to admit that there was a small part of him that shared these concerns. The Goblin was getting more and more well armed, which obviously made him increasingly dangerous. If he didn't stop him soon, he feared he might not be able to stop him at all. 

He came across the website of an up and coming newspaper, The Daily Bugle, who's article about the situation insinuated that Spider-Man and the Goblin were just putting on a show and were secretly working together. For whatever reason, the up and coming editor of the paper, J. Jonah Jameson, seemed to have it out for him. Peter elected to just scroll past the article and not read the finer details. Seriously, Spider-Man and the Green Goblin working together? Who would believe that nonsense anyway? 

Later that day, the lunch table just included Peter, Ned and M.J, as Betty was apparently not feeling very well and was missing school that day. 

"She said her temperature was like 102, and that she couldn't stop throwing up last night," Ned detailed for the other two. 

"Thanks for the info man," Peter said, setting down his sandwich. He all of a sudden wasn't feeling very hungry, which was rare for him. One thing his spider powers hadn't gotten rid of though was the queasy feeling his stomach got anytime someone even mentioned throwing up. M.J, on the other hand, just kept eating, and Peter had no idea how she did it. 

"So, I actually wanted to ask you two something," Peter said, happy to change the subject. Both Ned and M.J. turned towards him with curious looks on their faces, giving him their full attention. 

"Pepper said I can have access to Tony's lab at the lakehouse whenever I wanted. I figured this evening I could go up there and review the footage of my fight with the Goblin from last night, and I wondered if you guys wanted to come look at it with me. I figure that 3 pairs of eyes are better than one; maybe you all might pick up on something I wouldn't see," he reasoned. 

"Dude, yeah!" Ned exclaimed as if this was the only logical answer. "Sounds awesome!" 

M.J. took an extra second to respond, but finally answered, "Well, I am pretty observant after all," with her trademark deadpan expression. 

"Alright then," Peter said. "If you guys want to meet me outside of Dr. Connors' lab after I get done for the day, we'll head out to the cabin from there." 

Everyone agreed, then went right back to their lunch. 

Peter called Pepper after school to inform her that the three of them would be using the lab, and of course she was happy to have them over. Later that evening, the three of them finally made it to the cabin. Pepper had insisted they at least come get some snacks first. She had repeatedly encouraged Peter not to be all business all the time, but to take even the smallest moments to enjoy himself, particularly while he was young, and this was just her way of encouraging that. 

The three teenagers went in to grab some snacks, and of course Morgan came over to greet them like she usually did. "Man girl, you really need to stop growing! Soon people won't be able to pick you up so easily!" Peter remarked as he hoisted her up into his arms. 

"But you can, cause you're really strong!" Morgan exclaimed, and everyone in the room let out a laugh at the little girl's remark. Peter and the others indulged Morgan for a little while before Pepper said it was time for her to get ready for bed. 

"Ah Mommy, do I have to?" Morgan questioned, clearly trying to put on her cutest pout face to break her mother's will. 

"Yes you do; we need to let Peter and his friends get to work," Pepper replied gently. 

The little girl went around and gave each of the three teenagers a hug, with Peter's being the longest, before taking her mother's hand and walking off with her to get ready for bed. The three teens then headed down towards Tony's lab in the basement. Pepper had made sure to upload Peter's information into F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s system, so a quick scan of Peter's retina was all it took to gain access to the lab. 

"Good evening, Peter," the A.I. greeted the three of them.

"Thanks F.R.I.D.A.Y," Peter answered, "and yes, these two are with me." 

"Of course," the A.I. affirmed. 

Ned got his laptop set up to work directly with F.R.I.D.A.Y. and Peter inserted the drive containing the footage he had pulled from his suit's system, and the fight began playing. Ned couldn't help but ooh and aah at most of the fight, but when Peter glanced to M.J, he could see the concern she was desperately trying to keep from showing on her face. Before school let out, he had told her she didn't have to come if she didn't want to, but she insisted that she wanted to. She said that she wanted to help him in anyway she could. Still, he could tell it was making her feel uncomfortable, especially during the parts where he was taking the blunt of the damage, but she remained as stoic as ever. 

After watching it through the first time while, none of them could particularly pick out anything. They took a quick snack break before Peter had F.R.I.D.A.Y. run the footage a second time, hoping that at least one of them would notice something new. They eventually got to the part where Peter and the Goblin engaged in direct hand to hand combat, and suddenly M.J. yelled "freeze it!" 

Peter instructed F.R.I.D.A.Y. to pause the footage. M.J. pointed to a small tear in the Goblin's costume, and Ned zoomed in on that spot. The green stitching had been torn, but the material underneath was intact. 

"Ned, can you analyze what that material is?" Peter asked as he glanced toward his best friend. 

"Coming right up," Ned announced, and he went to work. Peter knew he had been working on a system that could analyze various materials while also discovering their origins, but this was the first time Peter saw it in action. He had to admit, it looked really impressive. 

After a few moments, they got a result. "Huh," Ned said, leaning his head forward just a little bit to get a closer look at the screen. 

"What is it?" Peter asked, not wanting to be kept in suspense. 

"It's made of some kind of lightweight titanium alloy, weaved in and reinforced with a couple other metals," Ned answered. "But here's the thing: this stuff has been developed by Oscorp, but it's not even on the market yet. It's still listed under their prototypes for military hardware." 

Peter put his right hand over his chin and mouth, squinting his eyes as he pondered this new information. 

"What is it?" he hears M.J. ask. 

"I'm not sure," Peter admitted, his brain still trying to process everything he knew about the situation. "I've wondered if the Goblin was someone who had a grudge against Oscorp somehow. This almost certainly confirms it." 

"Not necessarily," M.J. said, and Peter noticed a little uncertainty in her voice, like she was still thinking through something. He glanced over at her and he could practically see the wheels turning in her head. 

"What do you mean?" Peter inquired. 

"What if...what if Norman is the Goblin?" 

"Why would that be?" Ned questioned in response. "This guy keeps stealing Oscorp technology. That's not exactly good for his business." 

"Maybe," M.J. replied, still looking like she was trying to process her thoughts. "Think about it though: he sure to get a huge payoff from the insurance company because of the destruction of Oscorp Tower, right? Plus, Peter, I remember you telling us about Osborn possibly employing Dr. Miles Warren in secret; what if he was developing whatever gave the Goblin his enhanced strength and speed? The use of his tech could just be him trying to divert suspicion." 

Peter just stood there for a moment, staring at the frozen footage of the Goblin. 

"What do you think, Peter?" Ned prompted after a moment. 

"I don't know...M.J, what you're saying makes sense, but..." Peter paused. 

"But what?" she asked. 

"The Goblin is just so...different from him. Norman is composed and calm, never letting a whole lot of emotion really come through. The Goblin...he's the opposite. He's erratic, unstable, he's ALWAYS laughing about something, and he just...he seems to let how much he enjoys being the way he is shine through in everything he says and does." 

Everyone took a moment to think through everything that had been said, before M.J. finally spoke up again. 

"So what are you going to do next?" she asked Peter. He didn't even need to look at her to feel her curious gaze upon him. 

"I need more concrete info. Everything we have said since discovering what that costume is made of is just theoretical; I need something else, something factual. 

"Where are you going to find that?" Ned asked. 

Peter turned and looked at his best friend. 

"Honestly, I have no idea." 

"Officer Watanabe, thank you for coming," Captain Stacy said.

"Sure thing, Captain," Yuri replied as she closed the driver door of her car behind her. "But what are we doing here?"

"The chief hasn't been in his office in 48 hours," the Captain replied as they began walking side by side towards the entrance of the apartment building. "I've tried calling him, but there's been no response. I don't have a good feeling about it." 

This seemed to satisfy Yuri, and the two of them walked in silence for the rest of the way, until they came to the chief's door. Captain Stacy gave a couple knocks, but there was no answer. He tried again, but still there was no answer. He pulled out his cell phone and dialed the chief's number. He heard it ringing, but nobody came to the door. He drew his gun from its holster and looked at Yuri, who quickly followed suit. The captain then kicked in the door, pointing his gun directly ahead of him. He entered the room first, with Yuri close behind. He motioned with a couple fingers for her to take the left, and she nodded and approached the kitchen area. He continued going through the living room, moving quickly to the bedroom and its bathroom on the right. 

"Clear!" he hears Yuri yell from the kitchen. 

"Clear!" he called back from the bedroom and bathroom. He holstered his weapon back up as Yuri came into the room as well, her weapon attached back on her hip as well. 

"No signs of a struggle or anything in the kitchen," Yuri reported. 

"Nothing here either," Captain Stacy replied. He marched back out of the bedroom and into the living room, grabbing the cell phone that was sitting on the side table next to the couch. There weren't too many missed calls, but even the few that were there was unusual, given the chief's nature to promptly return any that were missed. 

"What are you thinking?" Yuri asked. 

"I'm not sure," the captain admitted. "Something's still bothering me about this though." 

Suddenly, they heard footsteps and they both glanced in the direction of the door. They caught only the vaguest glimpse of a figure standing in the doorway before he took off running down the hall. 

"Hey, stop!" the captain yelled, and he took off after the figure, with Yuri following close behind. They eventually got within viewing distance of the figure, but still couldn't really tell anything about him, other than that he was of moderate height and had a slender build. Whoever they were, they were fast. 

The figure took off down the stairs, with the captain and Yuri in hot pursuit. By the time they got to the bottom of the stairs and into the lobby, whoever they were pursuing was gone. Captain Stacy looked around, completely at a loss. 

"Looks like your feeling was likely right," Yuri said. 

Suddenly the captain's phone rang.

"Captain Stacy speaking," he said. 

"Captain, we found the chief," came the voice of an officer on the other end of the line. 

"Where?" the captain inquired. 

"Washed up on the river bank. He's dead sir."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys liked it! Feel free to let me know what you guys think! 
> 
> Shout to to all who've commented or left kudos, particularly my mysterious guest friend who has faithfully commented on every chapter. Your feedback means the world to me. 
> 
> Stay safe and healthy! 
> 
> "Let love and faithfulness never leave you..." Proverbs 3:3-4


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Later that evening, Peter was out on patrol, scouring the city. The observation of the footage of his most recent fight with the Green Goblin had not yielded the information that he had hoped, just more theories. He needed to find something more concrete if he was going to bring the Goblin in. Unfortunately, the city was as quiet as could be. Peter patrolled all over Manhattan, from Harlem all the way to the Financial District, but there was not a crime to stop. Honestly, Peter knew he should be happy about it, but he couldn't help but feel even more disturbed by this than if he had been busy thwarting crime all night. If the city was THIS quiet, it meant something had to be going down soon, something big.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter: Peter and Captain Stacy discuss next steps while also having a heart to heart, and the Goblin realizes there is a "problem" that must be dealt with.

Later that evening, Peter was out on patrol, scouring the city. The observation of the footage of his most recent fight with the Green Goblin had not yielded the information that he had hoped, just more theories. He needed to find something more concrete if he was going to bring the Goblin in. Unfortunately, the city was as quiet as could be. Peter patrolled all over Manhattan, from Harlem all the way to the Financial District, but there was not a crime to stop. Honestly, Peter knew he should be happy about it, but he couldn't help but feel even more disturbed by this than if he had been busy thwarting crime all night. If the city was THIS quiet, it meant something had to be going down soon, something big. 

He was shaken from this line of thought by an incoming call from Captain Stacy. The man didn't even wait for Peter to acknowledge him before he spoke.

"Precinct rooftop, same as last time," then he hung up. 

"Well that was odd," Peter remarked to himself before arcing his web line to change direction and head towards the precinct. The captain had been so concerned about the chief that he had basically said they could only meet if it was an emergency, so Peter knew that something bad must've happened.

Sure enough, when he arrived, there was the captain, waiting patiently for him. Peter pulled his web tight, releasing it so that he gracefully flipped and landed a few feet from the man. 

"What's going on that made you want to meet in person?" Peter asked, his whole body eager with anticipation. 

"One of my officer's found the chief's body a few hours ago, washed up from the river," the captain said. 

"Body?" Peter questioned. "That means that he's..." 

"Yes," the captain said, before moving on. "I had an autopsy done almost immediately, and they found that he had likely been dead for at least a day or two."

"Oh man," Peter said, still trying to process this new information.

"It gets even stranger," the captain continued. "They found that he had been drugged and kept sedated for a long time, at least a few weeks."

"A few weeks!?" Peter exclaimed. "So the man that we saw the day of Hammerhead's arrest..."

"Exactly: he was quite likely an impostor of some kind," the captain said, arriving at the same conclusion as Peter had. 

"Why kill him now though?" Peter wondered out loud. "Especially if whoever was doing the impersonating had managed to surprise the chief and wasn't seen when he drugged him the first time, why kill him now?" 

"I don't know," the captain admitted, "but I don't like it. Officer Watanabe and I went to his apartment when he hadn't shown up at the precinct the last few days without telling anyone, and we found a man there. Unfortunately he got away before either her or myself could get a good look at him, but I have no doubt he is connected to the chief's death somehow."

This disturbed Peter greatly; someone who could just impersonate anyone so that even a trained, experienced cop like the captain couldn't notice any difference? He sure hoped his spider-sense would be up to the task if this individual ever came around him.

"All of this tells me that either there is a long game going on or there was a change in the original plan," the captain continued, "particularly if the impersonator answered to someone else. It also feels like more than a coincidence that this just so happens to be going on not long after this Green Goblin shows up. Any leads on that?" 

Peter thought about telling him about some of the theories that he, Ned and M.J. had come up with earlier, but he didn't have any real evidence. "Nothing concrete yet," he truthfully admitted, "other than that he is around the same level of superhuman strength, speed and agility as me. He also has a thing for explosives." 

"Anything helps me build a profile on him to start," the captain said, looking into his eyes with what Peter could only describe as a hopeful expectancy. "Is there anything else, anything about his personality that you can add?" 

Peter wrung his gloved hands together as he thought for a moment. "Well, he's definitely insane; that or he's really, really good at faking it," he finally spoke up. "He seems to enjoy being the way he is and causing as much destruction as possible. He's also ambitious; he's repeatedly talked about taking over the city, but I still have no clue how he intends to do that." 

"He seems to be going after Oscorp property a great deal as well," the captain added. "I'm going to begin putting together a list of possible suspects based on past history with Norman Osborn, either as competitors or employees. Hopefully that should get us moving in the right direction at least."

"I'll keep an eye out for the Goblin himself," Peter added. "Wherever he is tonight, he has been careful to stay hidden, but he seems like the type who can't help but show himself at some point." 

"Sounds like a plan," Captain Stacy replied, but Peter then noticed the man's face shift from his usually serious, stoic demeanor to a more...concerned look. "Spider-Man, I have to be honest with you: I've seen a lot of bad guys in this city, but this Green Goblin, whoever he is, scares me the most."

"We'll get him, Captain," Peter said, trying his best to sound upbeat and reassuring, though he had to admit he shared the captain's concerns more than he wanted to say. 

"I know," the captain answered, "I just hope not too many others will pay the price before we do. He brought down Oscorp's main building like it was nothing, taking many lives in the process." Peter watched as the man's face again shifted, this time from a concerned to an almost melancholy look. He observed as the captain walked over to the side of the edge of the roof, resting his hands against it. Peter walked towards him, joining him a few feet to the man's left side. 

"I became a cop because I wanted to do my part to make this city a safe place for my family," the captain said before pulling out his phone from his jacket pocket. Peter watched as he appeared to scroll through some things before the captain rotated his hand so that he could see the screen. Peter glanced down at a picture of the captain with a pretty blond woman and a little girl, all posing together near in front of a fireplace. 

"That's your wife?" Peter said, pointing to the woman leaning against the captain with a hand on his chest. 

"Linda and I got married straight out of high school," the captain said, indirectly answering Peter's question. "I was initially going to go to college to get my a degree and become a history teacher, but I noticed a need in our community for officers who will do whatever it takes within the scope of the law to protect, and go above and beyond to serve the people of this city, however that looked like." 

"That's admirable," Peter said, moving his eye contact from the captain back to the picture. "I presume then that this is your daughter," he observed, pointing to the young girl. "How old is she?" 

"She just turned 10 a couple of weeks ago," the captain said with a smile on his face. "Gwen was a miracle baby really; the doctors said she wasn't developing very well while she was in the womb, and they didn't expect her to make it. Now here she is, living her life, even dancing in state competitions!" 

"She sounds really talented," Peter observed. He couldn't help but be really happy for the captain. Up until this point, he had been the stern, but not overly serious, protector of the city. The man was clearly someone that people looked up to and seemed determined to set an example for others to follow. All of this, and he also had a loving family that seemed to all care for and support each other as well. Peter let his thoughts wander to M.J. He and her were likely a lot longer away than the captain and his wife were at their age from marriage, but he couldn't help but really wonder: could it be possible for them to have all that? He had always dwelt on how Spider-Man would get in the way of even the simplest of dates, but here this man was, protecting the city with all of his being, and he still he had a strong, healthy relationship with his wife and daughter. 

Was it really possible for him to have that? 

Peter caught himself before he got too lost in thought. He reasoned that he and M.J. still had plenty of time to figure something like that out. 

"Well, I think I'm going to do one more quick patrol, then call it a night. I'll let you know if I encounter our new green friend," Peter said. 

"We'll reconvene once I have put together a list of some potential persons of interest to look into," the captain said. 

"Sounds good," Peter replied. "Don't worry sir, we'll catch this guy. After all, you have to watch your daughter take the gold, or, whatever it is that she wins!" He gave a salute to the captain, before diving off of the building and swinging away to do one more sweep through of the city. 

The Goblin stood atop a walkway overlooking the main part of the building that he and his gang now occupied. All of the men were stockpiling a vast assortment of high tech weapons, all courtesy of various Oscorp projects. These weapons were intended to be sold to the military...the highest bidding one, at least. However, the Goblin had since thought of a use for them that would be a little closer to home. 

One of the men, who the Goblin had dubbed one of his lieutenants, walked up to him. 

"Everything is on schedule," the man said, a little bit of nervousness in his voice, which didn't go unnoticed by the Goblin. 

"Ohh, Ron, my boy, there's no need to worry," the Goblin said, walking up to the man and patting him on his left shoulder. "You boys simply do as you're told and get everything ready on schedule, and I won't feel the need to 'terminate' your employment." The Goblin threw his head back, letting out a brief cackle. "That's not too much to ask for, is it?"

"N..No sir," the man replied. 

"Good," the Goblin replied, a maniacal smile appearing on his face. "After all, tomorrow is a very big day, not just for me, but for all of us, and everything must be EXACTLY as I intended it." 

"It will be sir," the man replied. 

"Well then I guess you better get back to it then. Off you go!" the Goblin said, motioning his arms as if to shoo the man away. As Ron left, another man came up to him, wearing a white covering over his face. 

"Ah, Chameleon; please, step forward!" the Goblin said, gesturing towards his next visitor. "I must again apologize for what happened at Oscorp that caused the sudden shift in your employment, but be assured, you will continue to be paid handsomely for your services." 

"We a have problem," Chameleon said, clearly opting to get straight to the point. 

"Oh, and what might that be?" the Goblin inquired.

"I had to go back to the chief's apartment to tie up some loose ends, and there were a couple cops investigating the scene," said the Chameleon, his voice very even toned. "They never got a good look at me, but I got a good enough one of them to know that at least one of them was Captain George Stacy. The other one I'm not sure; she was one of the newer officers I believe." 

"I see," the Goblin replied. "For now, continue with your impersonation of Norman Osborn. Proceed as normal." 

"What about the captain?" the Chameleon inquired. 

"Oh I wouldn't worry about him," the Goblin answered as another massive grin formed on his face. "I have a feeling that soon he won't be a problem anymore."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Brace yourselves guys, the ride is about to get crazy! 
> 
> Feel free to let me know your thoughts in the comments. Thank you once again to those who have left comments and kudos :)
> 
> Stay safe and healthy! 
> 
> "A good name is more desirable than..." Proverbs 22:1


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Before he could answer, his spider-sense went haywire. 
> 
> "GET DOWN!" he yelled, practically tackling M.J. and the others to the ground by himself, narrowly avoiding a throw bomb that exploded about 15 feet in front of them. Peter looked up from ground as the Green goblin went sailing by them on his glider, cackling away as he continued chucking bombs all over the place. 
> 
> He looked over at M.J. 
> 
> "Okay, I admit, I was wrong," she whispered, as their faces were right next to each other. 
> 
> "Get them out of here," Peter said, his mind going into full on superhero mode already. "I have to go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter: M.J. tries to get Peter to take a breather before taking on the Goblin again, that doesn't happen, and something goes horribly wrong.

At school the next day, Peter was getting his books for his 1st period class. He, M.J. and Ned were currently listening to Betty rant about how hard her forthcoming history test was going to be. 

"I don't get why we have to memorize all of those dates," she complained. "What good is that going to do me in real life anyway?" 

Peter closed his locker and turned to fully face the three of them, glancing to M.J. as she spoke up next. 

"Those that ignore history are doomed to repeat it," M.J. said. Peter could tell she was trying her best not to scold their friend. 

"That's fair," Betty acknowledged, "but I feel like there has to be a better way to do that than just listing a bunch of dates on a piece of paper with a brief summary of what happened." 

"I agree," Ned chimed in, coming to his girlfriend's defense as usual. "There needs to be more critical discussion about this stuff." 

"Now on that part we agree," M.J. replied, her eyes widening a little bit as she nodded her head. "There is a sad lack of actual critical discussion when it comes to the past and its influence over the present. We all need to talk about how these events brought us to where we are today and what needs to be kept or changed, but still, knowing what happened at all is the first step." 

"Peter, help us out here," Ned complained. 

"I see everybody's points," Peter acknowledged, not really wanting to take a side in a debate between his best friend and his girlfriend, "How about a compromise? We do a one page test, front and back, with the front being a listing of the events and the back being an explanation of how these things brought us to where we are now." 

"Ever the people pleaser," Betty said, shaking her head and giving a light smile. She and Ned walked off to their classes, leaving Peter and M.J. still at the locker. Before either one of them could say anything, Brad Davis came walking up to them. 

"Hey Peter, I need to talk to you," he announced as if Peter didn't have a choice, "man to man." 

"Anything you have to say to Peter, you can say to me," M.J. said, stepping closer to Brad. Peter watched as Brad tried not to visibly shrink under M.J.'s glare. It had been a couple weeks or so since their little incident, but the bad blood was clearly still there, and M.J. clearly wasn't letting the guy forget it. 

"It's okay M.J," Peter said, stepping up next to her and putting a hand on her shoulder. She turned towards him and their eyes met, her expression still stone cold and serious. He gave her a gentle look and a nod in return, trying to convey that it was okay and that he could handle this. She seemed to get the message as her expression softened and she nodded in acknowledgment before turning and heading down the hall to their first class. 

"Alright Brad, what's up?" Peter asked, trying to be casual. 

"I think I deserve an apology," Brad said with the most straight face possible, and it took every bit of Peter's willpower not to burst out laughing at the absurd nature of his request or rage at him for being so egotistically presumptuous. Who did this guy think he was anyway? 

"From me, or from M.J?" he settled for. 

"Both really," Brad answered. "Look man, I'm trying to get an athletic scholarship, but this kind of thing has people asking questions. I don't need somebody posting about this too much on social media. It doesn't take much these days, ya know?" 

"No Brad, I wouldn't know," Peter answered firmly, trying his best to relax his fingers so they wouldn't form full on fists. "I've never really had the popularity thing, you know, and let's not pretend we both don't know what really happened." He tried to turn away, but then he felt a hand on his shoulder. 

"I'm serious, Peter," he heard Brad continue. "Don't forget, I know your little secret."

"Okay, two things," Peter said, turning around so he could answer Brad face to face. "One: I already told you that's not what it looked like. Two: you already know M.J. doesn't believe you, and from what she told me, neither did anybody else when you tried to out me in London." 

He watched as Brad's face fell a little bit, clearly not enjoying the memory he had just brought up. 

"Look man," Peter said, his voice softening in tone a little, "I won't speak for M.J, but as far as I'm concerned, the past is the past. You leave me alone, I'll leave you alone, and that'll be that. I don't want any more trouble." 

Brad didn't answer, instead just giving a look that Peter couldn't quite decipher, so he opted to just walk away from the conversation, hoping that was all it would come to. 

"So, you guys want to do something fun tonight?" Betty spoke up, drawing Peter and everyone else's attention from their unusually good cafeteria food. It was pizza day, which meant there was very little conversation to be had compared to the norm. Even M.J. had been more excited than he had ever seen her around food, because for the first time, they actually had brought a vegetarian option. She had then proceeded to ramble to him all the way to their table about what great progress this was. 

"What did you have in mind, babe?" Ned asked, and Peter couldn't help but once again roll his eyes at the use of a cutesy name being thrown out by Ned to his girlfriend. He reminded himself for millionth time how grateful he was that he and M.J. weren't like that. 

"I thought we could all go to Times Square and just see what we end up doing. Peter, I know you have work at the lab, but maybe we could all meet up after that?" Betty asked.

"I don't know, Betty," Peter answered, thinking about how much more work it was going to take to bring the Goblin down. "I'm really bu..."

"Sounds fun Betty," M.J. cut him off, shooting him a look to indicate that he should just go with it. Normally he would do exactly that, but he opted to press his luck this time. 

"It really does, but I have a lot to do," he said, not moving his gaze from M.J, who was matching his intensity. 

"Just give us a minute, would you?" M.J. said as she looked at the other two before returning her eyes to Peter, nodding her head to the left to indicate she wanted to go somewhere to talk. She got up, and Peter followed behind until they reached a relatively quiet corner of the cafeteria. 

"M.J, what are you doing?" he asked in a loud whisper.

"Peter, you can't keep doing this," M.J. said, her voice remaining a much more calm whisper. "You need some time to just relax." 

"I have to find him," Peter said, the intensity not leaving his voice, "before he hurts someone else." 

"And I agree," M.J. offered before continuing, "but obsessing over him is only going to make you get sloppy and make a mistake. Based on everything you've told me, you can't afford that against him. You need some time to just recharge and have fun." 

"I can do that here," he said. Her head leaned a little to her left as she gave him a skeptical look. 

"Peter," she said.

"Really, I can," he argued. 

"Going through a normal school day is not the same as actually, you know, having fun. Look, I'm not asking you to give up the evening; like I said, he needs to be stopped. Just hangout for a couple hours after the lab, then you can resume looking for him. It's Friday, so you don't even have to worry about getting your homework done when you finish patrol. Deal?" 

Peter sighed. He had to admit that M.J. had some solid points, and he knew he likely had a long hunt ahead of him to catch the Goblin. 

"Deal." 

Peter wrapped up a little early at the lab, so he met up with the rest of them a little early. It was chilly outside, so they were all wearing some winter clothes. They walked around, checking out the street performers and those putting on all kinds of random acts. None of them had much money, so they didn't do anything super fancy, but just had a good time walking around, even playing a game where they sat on a bench and guessed where different tourists looked like they might be from. 

After about an hour, they were walking around Bryant Park, just enjoying themselves, each one talking about why they loved the city. 

"There's so much news that happens around here!" Betty exclaimed. "There's never a dull moment." 

"I like that this is the center area for so much technological development." Ned chimed in. "What about you M.J.?"

She thought for a moment before answering, "I like it for the various art galleries and bookstores here." 

Peter then noticed the three of them looking at him, as it was his turn. "Let's see," he said, looking straight ahead, squinting his eyes and furrowing his brow as he tried to think. "I love this city because..."

Before he could answer, his spider-sense went haywire. 

"GET DOWN!" he yelled, practically tackling M.J. and the others to the ground by himself, narrowly avoiding a throw bomb that exploded about 15 feet in front of them. Peter looked up from ground as the Green goblin went sailing by them on his glider, cackling away as he continued chucking bombs all over the place. 

He looked over at M.J. 

"Okay, I admit, I was wrong," she whispered, as their faces were right next to each other. 

"Get them out of here," Peter said, his mind going into full on superhero mode already. "I have to go." 

"Be careful," she said, before getting up and quickly getting Betty and Ned's attention, leading them away. Peter quickly ran towards an alley and performing the fastest change into his suit that he ever had. As he sprung onto a rooftop, the Goblin was not hard to locate, as he was still blowing everything up in sight. It was almost like he wanted Peter to find him, which was just fine. Hopefully it meant a fast end to all this. 

Webbing his way quickly towards the Goblin's vicinity, he noticed the green menace wrapping around a building on his glider. Peter took full advantage, swinging around the building tightly from the other side, arriving around the corner just in time to catch the Goblin. 

"Surprise!!" he yelled, slamming his feet into the Goblin and sending his foe flying off of his glider and crashing to the ground below. 

"Gobby, you really need to work on your form if you're going to make the next olympics," Peter said as he landed in front of the Goblin, quickly firing webbing to subdue his foe. The Goblin recovered quickly and moved out of the way just in time, lunging for Peter, who leaned his back to the ground and kicked the green figure behind him. This time, the Goblin landed on his feet. 

"I'm glad you could join the party, Spider-Man," the Goblin said, his usual devilish grin spread across his face. I wouldn't want you to miss this!" With that, he threw a myriad of the same sharp edged devices he had tried to stab Peter with before. Peter barely got out of the way of each one, but then he noticed a couple of them headed for some civilians. Springing into action, he webbed them up and yanked, forcing the devices to land harmlessly on the ground. His spider-sense rang out once more, but this time it wasn't enough to get him out of the way of the Goblin, who pounced on him and began laying punch after punch into his face. 

"With any luck, you'll die a humiliating death in front of your adoring public!" the Goblin taunted as he continued his assault.

Peter finally managed to snap out of it, striking the Goblin in the chest with a powerful punch, sending him flying into a poster several feet away. He gathered himself quickly; his nose was likely bleeding, possibly broken, but he couldn't let it slow him down. He noticed the Goblin getting back on his glider and he leapt into the air to swing after his adversary, pursuing him until they were suddenly in the heart of Times Square itself. He found himself dodging a spray of rapid fire from the Goblin's glider when he was notified that Captain Stacy was the trying to contact him. 

"A little busy right now, sir," Peter said, trying to remain calm so that he wouldn't come off as disrespectful. 

"Just keep him busy," the captain said. "Right now my men are trying to coordinate the clearing of the area, then we will come in to help. 

"He's got too much in his arsenal," Peter replied, taking advantage of an opening he had to web the glider and send a flying punch into the Goblin, who remarkably stayed on the glider. "Let me handle this." 

"I never abandon my partner," the captain replied, then switching off the line. As Peter had the Goblin in pursuit of him again, he finally got a look to see that the captain and several officers were over on the far side of the Square. Unfortunately, the Goblin noticed to, and he suddenly made a quick change of direction on his glider to head straight for them. Peter barely caught up in time to tackle the Goblin off his glider, causing him to drop the bomb he was holding. It exploded, sending officers and civilians alike heading for cover. 

"You won't hurt ANYONE!" Peter screamed as he threw punch after punch at the Goblin, but he was getting sloppy, starting to miss more than he was connecting. The Goblin took full advantage of this, returning punches much more efficiently, as well as taunts. 

"Come on, right here, I dare you!" the Goblin called out, and Peter lunged forward, but his adversary once more easily sidestepped him. 

"What's wrong with me?" Peter thought to himself. He gathered himself and prepared for another attack, but he sprang right into the Goblin's trap, ending up in a series of powerful cables his foe had thrown that wrapped him up tightly from his shoulders down to his legs. 

Peter squirmed and struggled, but could do nothing except tighten hid bonds as the Goblin walked over until he was right over him. 

"Freeze!" came the voice of Captain Stacy, who was backed up by Yuri and a few other cops. They all had their guns drawn on the Goblin, who subtly shifted his hand over to tap a part of his costume on his other arm. 

"Captain, he's called back his glider!" Peter yelled, recognizing this gesture from his previous encounter. "Look out!" 

The glider then came roaring in, firing a couple of missiles, which detonated on impact, sending each of the cops flying in different directions. The Goblin then walked up to the captain, who was lying on the ground, and Peter swore he could see blood trickling from the man's forehead. 

"You!" The Goblin shouted, pointing to a news cameraman who had been foolish enough to stick around. "Get over here, I want you to get this!" 

The Goblin then picked up the captain by the throat and dragged him until they were about 10 feet away from the camera. Peter could only watch as his ally struggled against the tight grip that was around his throat, to no avail. 

"Leave him alone!" Peter shouted, still struggling mightily against his bonds. 

"Hello, New York!" the Goblin shouted into the camera, ignoring Peter entirely. "I am the Green Goblin, and this," he said as he thrust the captain into the camera's view, "is one of New York's finest, Captain George Stacy! He and Spider-Man thought they could come out here and stop me!" The Goblin gestured towards Peter and the cameraman followed with the camera before returning to the Goblin. "Well, allow me to make an example of what happens when someone stands in my way." 

The Goblin then proceeded to crush the Captain's neck, before casually discarding him on the ground. 

Captain George Stacy was dead. 

"NOOOOOO!" Peter screamed, finally snapping the cables that held him and lunging at the Goblin, who hopped onto his glider. 

"Goodnight New York!" the Goblin shouted as he ascended into the sky. "The extinction of your hope is at hand!" 

Peter fired a web to latch onto the glider, but it was moving too fast, flying straight up the center of the square, not close to any buildings. It wasn't long before the Goblin disappeared into the evening sky. 

All he could do was stare up for a moment, before someone's voice broke him out of his daze. 

"Spider-Man," he heard a female voice call, "we have others that still need your help!" 

It was Yuri. 

He slowly collected himself, and went over to help the other officers who were injured from the initial blast. Even as he was doing this, none if it felt real. 

The Captain was dead. 

A few days later, Captain Stacy's funeral was held, with a great number of people in attendance. Peter was there, dressed in his Spider-Man suit, watching from a nearby rooftop. He tuned in his super hearing as the captain's eulogy was given by his best friend from college and as many other officers gave testimony of the valor and character the captain had always shown. However, the biggest thing that caught Peter's attention was the captain's wife and daughter there. The newly widowed woman was holding her daughter close, clearly holding back her own grief to focus on her inconsolable child. 

That was all Peter could take. He turned from the scene, fully slumping down from his crouched position, leaning his back to the edge of the building, a gargoyle hiding him from view. He took off his mask and didn't even try to stop the tears from flowing as he wept bitterly. The captain was dead. His wife was now a widow and his child would no longer have her father there to support her at her dance competitions. Their family was fractured. 

And Peter had failed to stop it. 

It was all his fault.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a hard chapter to write, even though I had been planning it since the beginning. What did you all think? Please, I would really like to know your thoughts. 
> 
> Stay safe and health everyone! 
> 
> "Why must I go about mourning..." Psalm 43:2-5


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> By now, Peter had gone two days without going to school or the lab. He was spending every available waking moment out in the city as Spider-Man, trying to track the Goblin down. He hadn't seen M.J, Ned or even May during these couple days, only stopping by his apartment briefly to grab a bite to eat here and there before leaving again. He had made sure to send them a message saying that he was likely to be "busy" with this, but that hadn't stopped each one of them from calling or texting him. He hated ignoring them, but he had to focus. The image of the captain's widow and child kept coming sharply into focus at the forefront of his mind as he worked tirelessly. He pictured the woman's stoic face as the child poured out tears into her mother's black dress, clutching at it like a lifeline. He had made up his mind the day of the funeral that no one was going to die again at the hands of the Goblin, whatever it took.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter: the Goblin further cements his hold on the New York underworld, Yuri receives an unexpected gift, and Peter grapples with whether or not to take on a new ally while dealing with an increased obsession with his green adversary.

The Goblin walked into the warehouse. By now, he and his men had made themselves quite at home there, having organized all of their supplies and set up everything they would need for the current scale of their operation. However, he was nowhere near satisfied. Instead, all he could think about was how much bigger they could go. Thankfully, the order of business he was there to attend to pertained to exactly that.

"They're waiting in the old billiard room for you boss," one of the Goblin's men informed him as he strode up to the door. 

"Thank you, Reggie," the Goblin said, excitedly ringing his gloved hands together before he opened the door. Inside were two of his men holding two hostages with coverings over their faces. 

"I'll take it from here gentlemen," the Goblin informed his men, who promptly walked out. He then yanked the coverings off both men's faces. 

"Welcome!" The Goblin announced excitedly as he tossed the coverings behind him. 

"Do you have any idea who we are?" one of the men asked him. "You and your men are dead!" 

"Now now," the Goblin said, waving a finger in the man's face as if he were a disobedient child. "That is no way to show gratitude for my hospitality. I mean, I go through the trouble of having my men bring you to MY hideout to discuss the imminent surrender of your crime families to my complete control, and this is how you thank me?" 

"The Cicero family will never join you!" the second man shouted. 

The Goblin just leaned against an old pool table, shaking his head. "Gentlemen," he said, reaching behind him to grab one of the pool sticks. He took it in both of his hands and slammed it across his leg, snapping it in half. "I don't think you fully understand the delicacy of your situation," he said, discarding one half of the stick to his left side while twirling the other more pointy one in his other hand. He strode up to the second man and stabbed him in the neck. After a couple moments, he removed the stick, leaving the man to bleed out on the floor.

The Goblin then strode over to the first man. "Get the picture?" he inquired, holding the bloody end of the stick to the man's face. 

"Yes," the man said, his face fallen. The Goblin's face contorted into a wicked grin at this development.

"Whatever you want, it's yours," the man said. 

"What I want is the entire New York underworld heeding my every word," the Goblin announced. "In achieving this goal, I cannot tolerate divided loyalties. Your men are loyal to you, yes?" 

"Y-Yes," the man stuttered out. 

"Do you then, pledge your loyalty to me?" the Goblin asked, once again holding the stick near the man's face. 

The man hesitated for a moment, seemingly crippled with fear, before finally stuttering out "y-yes sir." 

"Sorry, you hesitated," the Goblin said before promptly stabbing the man in the gut. 

"Oh Reginald!" the Goblin called. 

"Yes sir?" the man answered as he opened the door. He was clearly trying not to give too much of a reaction to the scene around him. 

"Get rid of these bodies, and send the footage of this to the two remaining crime families in the city," the Goblin said, gesturing to a small drone that had been hovering silently in a dark corner of the room, capturing the whole thing on film. "I want them ready for my arrival." 

Yuri sat patiently on a chair in the hallway outside of the office. She had been contacted by those who were handling Captain Stacy's last will and testament, and apparently he had left something behind for her. When she arrived, the office door had been open, but she could see someone else being helped, so she decided to wait outside the room. She and the captain hadn't been very close, but he had seemed to take an interest in her growth as an officer, and he didn't do that with just anyone. She had spent a lot of her brief time on the force thus far going on patrols with him and assisting him in various situations. He had clearly come to trust her, but she still had no idea what he would have left for her. 

Her attention turned to the door as a couple people exited the room, which meant it was her turn. She got up from her chair and walked up to a woman who was sitting behind a desk, holding a clipboard and eyeing her curiously. 

"Officer Yuriko Watanabe," Yuri offered, pulling out her badge to confirm her identity to the woman. The woman glanced at her clipboard for a moment before nodding her head in affirmation. 

"Sign here please while I grab your package," the woman said, handing her a pad to sign her name electronically. Yuri took it, promptly signing her name before handing it back to the woman. 

"Here you go," the lady said, handing her a small box. Yuri gave a quick nod of gratitude before heading out the door. She waited until she had gotten into her car before finally pulling out a pocketknife and cutting the tape holding the lids of the box together. She opened it, and inside was a small red and black device. Yuri picked it up, examining it further with an inquisitive look on her face. It honestly looked not too dissimilar to a Bluetooth earpiece, but it looked....hand made, though still of high quality. 

She glanced down into the box again, this time seeing a note against the floor of it. She reached down with her free hand and grabbed the note, holding it up in front of her to read. 

"Officer Yuriko Watanabe, 

If you are receiving this, then you have wholly earned my trust. By now, you know that I have been working with Spider-Man. This is a device he gave me to contact him. All you have to do is put it in your ear and tap it to activate it. 

While I as a whole do not approve of vigilantism, I have been able to observe his heart and his dedication to the overall good of this city, and I truly believe that working with him is much more beneficial. You have my word; he can be trusted. 

In short, I am giving you this so that my two most trusted allies in protecting this city can work together. I know that the two of you will make an excellent team. 

Good luck,

Captain George Stacy." 

Yuri lowered her hand that was holding the note. So many thoughts were running through her head right now, but mostly she kept running one particular phrase of the note through her head: 

"...so that my two most trusted allies in protecting this city can work together." 

It suddenly hit her like a wave how highly the captain had really thought of her....and what she really thought of him. He was one of the few influential male figures there had ever been in her life, her own father having been sent to prison for selling drugs when she was very young. Really, he had almost been like a father to her despite the fact that they were fairly close in age. Now, he was charging her with protecting the city, and giving her someone else he had trusted as a partner. 

She set the note back into the box and once again fixed her gaze on the device. She had the feeling she should use it sooner than later...but what was she going to say when she did? 

By now, Peter had gone two days without going to school or the lab. He was spending every available waking moment out in the city as Spider-Man, trying to track the Goblin down. He hadn't seen M.J, Ned or even May during these couple days, only stopping by his apartment briefly to grab a bite to eat here and there before leaving again. He had made sure to send them a message saying that he was likely to be "busy" with this, but that hadn't stopped each one of them from calling or texting him. He hated ignoring them, but he had to focus. The image of the captain's widow and child kept coming sharply into focus at the forefront of his mind as he worked tirelessly. He pictured the woman's stoic face as the child poured out tears into her mother's black dress, clutching at it like a lifeline. He had made up his mind the day of the funeral that no one was going to die again at the hands of the Goblin, whatever it took. 

He perched himself on the edge of the Chrysler building, having had no luck. The Goblin had this nasty habit of vanishing after a dramatic appearance, and there hadn't been enough encounters to feed into an algorithm to try and find a possible point or origin. Whoever the Goblin was, he was smart. 

He was shaken from his thoughts, and quite surprised, when the device he and the captain used rang. Had the Goblin taken the device and he just wasn't aware of it? Had someone from the captain's family or another officer found it? He tentatively tapped the side of his mask, answering meekly: "Hello?" 

"Spider-Man?" came a surprisingly familiar voice on the other end. 

"Yuri?" he questioned. "How did..."

"The captain left it for me, apparently," Yuri answered, her voice seemingly a little more awkward than usual. "It seems he wanted us to work together." 

Peter's heart sank at this. He hadn't really thought about it since the captain's death, but it hit him just now how much he didn't want another ally in the police force. It wasn't that he didn't trust Yuri; quite the opposite actually. Even from their lone time working together, they had seemed to make a good team, but he wasn't going to knowingly endanger someone else's life. 

He realized he had been silent for too long when Yuri continued: "Look, I think we should meet in person to discuss this. Meet me on the roof of the Upper East Side precinct." 

"Yuri, I..." He couldn't even finish his objection before she had hung up. Great. 

It didn't take him long to get to the precinct, and sure enough, there was Yuri, standing there waiting for him. She was standing very close to where the captain used to stand. This caused Peter to start to play back the scene of the captain's murder in his mind, and he shook his head to clear it before arcing his web and releasing it, landing in front of Yuri. 

"Glad you came," Yuri offered, her face still tight and serious. 

"I came to take the device back," Peter spoke up, extending his right hand out. 

"What?" Yuri said, tilting her head and giving him a questioning look. 

"Nobody else is going to die because of me," Peter said, his hand still held out as if he expected her to hand the device over at anytime. 

"Absolutely not," Yuri said, her face growing even more serious. 

"Yuri, please don't make this any harder than it has to be," Peter said, his voice still very calm. 

"This city needs us now more than ever," Yuri stated plainly. "With the deaths of the chief and the captain, the NYPD is in disarray as the mayor tries to figure everything out. It's up to people like us to handle this right now. Plus, I think there's something you should see." 

Peter watched as Yuri pulled out a small, folded up piece of paper from her inside jacket pocket and handed it to him. He unfolded it; it looked like a note from the captain to Yuri. He left the device for her. His eyes eventually came to the line that must have been the reason she gave this to him: 

"...so that my two most trusted allies in protecting this city can work together."

"He believed in us," Yuri said, taking a step towards him. "Both of us, working together to be stronger than we could ever be apart." 

Peter clutched the note in his hand as he wandered over to the edge of the building. He could feel Yuri's gaze on him without looking at her, as if she was hinging on whatever he said next. He pressed his fists against the end of the building, leaning his head down and closing his eyes as numerous thoughts swirled through his brain. 

"You really want to do this?" he finally said, looking up into the city. 

"It's what needs to be done," Yuri reiterated. 

Peter relaxed his hands, unfolding his fingers and turning to face her as he finally made up his mind. He would work with her for now, but when it came time to take the Goblin down, he would do it alone. Besides, he had no leads at the moment, so it couldn't hurt to at least hear her out. 

"Any thoughts on our next moves?" he asked. 

"All of this seems to somehow go back to Norman Osborn," Yuri said. "I think we should pay him a visit." 

"I tried that before this all started," Peter said. "If he does have something to do with this, he's not just going to incriminate himself. He's too smart."

"Yeah well, he hasn't faced both of us before," Yuri added, and Peter swore he could actually see a smirk on her face. 

"Alright then." 

Peter beat her to the Norman's penthouse, but waited patiently for her, as planned, before making his way into the ventilation shafts. He maneuvered his way around until he finally came to the office space Osborn was currently occupying. He watched as Osborn was notified of someone there and as Yuri was eventually let in. 

"Mr. Osborn, I'm Officer Yuriko Watanabe of the NYPD. We have some questions for you," she stated.

"Where's your partner officer?" Norman questioned. 

That was his queue. 

He made his way out of the vent, landing down on the floor right next to Yuri, facing Norman. 

"I'll have you arrested for breaking and entering," Norman said as he pointed a finger right at Peter's direction. 

"Mr. Osborn," Yuri spoke up, not missing a step, "let's not stand in ceremony here. Right now, he has just as much right to answers as I have. Plus, it's not like you were going to let him in the front door," she added, gesturing her head in Peter's direction. 

"What do you want?" Norman asked impatiently. "I'm a busy man." 

"Surely you're not too busy to help us hunt down the psychopath who has been stealing from you and destroying your property," Yuri offered in return. 

"If you're referring to the Goblin," Norman stated as he began walking back to his desk, "I am just as eager to see him locked up as you are. Do you have any leads?" Norman asked as he sat down. 

"You tell me," Peter spoke up. "Clearly, someone is trying to put you out of business. Any thoughts on who that could be?"

"Honestly, that wouldn't even begin to narrow it down. It's quite a long list," Norman answered in a frustrated tone. 

"It's a start," Yuri asserted. "If I had some names, I could at least rule some out." 

"Fine, but he has to wait outside," Norman said, gesturing to Peter. 

Yuri looked at him and gave him a gentle nod, and Peter walked out onto the large balcony area that overlooked the city. As he waited, his mind wandered back to the captain again. He thought of the advice the captain had given him about holding his loved ones close. Yet, if someone like the captain could be killed, what was likely to happen to Ned, May or M.J. if the Goblin or someone else discovered his true identity? He thought back to how helpless he felt as he watched the Goblin murder Captain Stacy for all the world to see, and there he was, lying subdued on the ground. His mind started picturing his loved ones in the Goblin's grasp instead of the captain. 

Ned.

May.

M.J.

His mind lingered on M.J. He had promised her he would never let her go, and he did his best to keep any promises he made. Still, he couldn't help but wonder if letting her go could be the most loving thing he could do for her in the end, not even just for her, but for everybody.

He was shaken out of his thoughts by the almost violent rattling of his spider-sense in his brain. 

BOOM! 

A myriad of bombs exploded at once, destroying the balcony. Peter had barely jumped in time to save his own life, but his suit was torn significantly. He glanced down as he hung from a web, and he could see that Yuri and Norman were safe, thankfully. 

His spider-sense went off again, and he turned to see the Goblin speeding towards him on his glider. He let go of the web just in time to grab onto the Goblin, and he tried to turn him so that the glider would curve away from the penthouse, but it wasn't quite enough, and the the two of them came crashing onto the floor of the office room. 

"I must admit, wall crawler, your sense of timing is unlike anything I have ever seen," the Goblin said as he and Peter both stood up. "After I kill you, I'm very much going to enjoy studying you to try and figure out just how you always seem to know when I'm coming. 

"It's not really that hard, Gobby," Peter taunted, trying to keep the Goblin's attention focused on him instead of the others in the room. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Yuri leading Norman out of the room; if he could just keep this up. "All that green gives you away!" 

"Oh, not to worry," the Goblin taunted, pulling out a couple of those orange blades of his, "I'll be putting you out of your misery soon enough, insect!" 

"That's actually a very common misconception," Peter said, flipping out of the way of the blades. "Spiders are actually arachnids. Sounds like someone needs to brush up on their biology a little." 

The Goblin's glider returned to him, and he took off after Peter, who barely managed to stay one step ahead of him as he dodged repeated tosses of what the Goblin apparently had come to call his "razor bats," as well as a few bombs and even the occasional fist. He looked for any opportunity to counter the Goblin, mainly resorting to throwing furniture or various items around the room, but it was all no good, as the Goblin either avoided or blew up every thing Peter tossed his away.

Nevertheless, Peter fought to maintain his composure. Losing his temper was what got him in trouble last time, so he knew he couldn't afford to make that mistake again. 

He then noticed Yuri make her way back into the room behind, which didn't go unnoticed by the Goblin either. 

"Well, it looks like we have company!" The Goblin shouted. "What's the saying, Spider-Man? Oh, yes. Three is a crowd!" 

The Goblin then hurled one of his razor bats straight in Yuri's direction. 

"Noo!" Peter called out, and dived in front of Yuri, the razor bat sinking into the left side of his stomach. 

"Oooh!" The Goblin exclaimed. "What a development this is!" In his reveling, he had maneuvered closer to Peter, who was quick to take advantage. Fighting the pain in his midsection, he quickly threw a punch straight into his adversary's jaw, sending him flying off his glider once more. He slowly tore out the razor bat from his stomach, his face tensing under his mask at the pain. Yuri ran over to him and helped him up. He turned and faced the Goblin, who was getting back on his glider once more. 

"You're tougher than you look, Spider-Man," the Goblin said, "but the next time we meet, it will be all over for you." 

The Goblin promptly turned and flew away, but not before Peter was able to shoot out a small tracer that latched itself onto the back of the Goblin's glider. 

"You okay?" Yuri asked once the Goblin was far enough away from them. 

"I'll be fine," Peter replied, webbing the spot he was hurt. He then promptly fired a web and swung away without another word, ignoring Yuri's call for him to wait. 

He hated to delay his Goblin hunt, but he knew he would need to make a quick pit stop by his apartment in order to properly tend to his wound. 

He just hoped he wasn't in for a whole other kind of fight once he got there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of now, I anticipate 3 to 4 more chapters, depending on how events shake out. We're near the finish guys! Hope you all are enjoying this story! Comments are always appreciated, good or bad. 
> 
> Stay safe and healthy everyone! 
> 
> "Anxiety weighs down the heart..." Proverbs 12:25


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "You okay?" Yuri answered.
> 
> "I'll make it," Peter said as he swung along, following the signal of where the glider had come to rest. "Careful Yuri, I might almost start to think you were worried about me," he teased, trying to lighten the mood. 
> 
> "Only a little," she teased back. "After all, you are superhuman." 
> 
> "Got me there," he said before getting into his plan. "I'm following the signal from the tracer I stuck on the Goblin's glider." As he examined the data through his mask lenses, trusting his spider-sense to guide him as he swung, it suddenly dawned on him. "Yuri...it's leading me back to the old building we investigated." 
> 
> "That obviously presents a potential problem," Yuri said, and she was right. If the Goblin got in the same way Norman must have, Peter was going to have the same issue he had before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter: Peter and May have a hard talk, Peter makes some interesting discoveries, and a shooter is finally caught.

Peter arrived at his apartment building and came in through his bedroom window. Within seconds, he heard a few pairs of footsteps come rushing to his room, and wasn't all that surprised to find May, M.J. and Ned all crowding him. Given that he had been ignoring their messages recently, not to mention the web covered wound in his midsection, it made sense that they would be concerned. 

"Dude, what happened?" Ned asked as Peter observed the equally curious and concerned look on his best friend's face.

"It's nothing too serious," Peter said, trying to play down the whole thing. When he pulled off the webbing to directly attend to it, everyone's faces seemed to convey otherwise. 

"Guys, really, it's fine," he said, trying to hide how painful his injury really was. He started to walk over to the small shelving unit behind his bed, where he had come to keep most of his medical supplies, but M.J. promptly rushed over and pulled out what he needed. 

"It's fine, I got it," she said, though she didn't immediately hand them to him. "C...Can I do it?" she offered. Peter's eyes met hers, and he could see a desperation in them, a pleading for him to just let her help, if only for the excuse to be close to him. He started to mumble something about how he appreciated the offer, but it would be faster for him to do it. Before he could even get any full words out, that same look seemed to intensify, and he felt it struck him to his heart. 

"Yeah, I would appreciate that," he said. This seemed to relieve her a little as her face shifted and a still melancholic smile formed on her lips. He tapped the centerpiece of his suit, causing it to inflate and slide off of him. He had taken to wearing this gym shorts underneath his suit instead of just his underwear, just in case something like this happened. He forever had in his mind the awkward feeling from when he had started undressing in front of her at Prague, and that had only been him taking off his shirt. The thought of anything beyond that was still very uncomfortable to him, so he thought it best to be prepared. 

He sat on the floor, leaning against the side of his twin bed. Ned sat to his left on the floor, May on the bed to his right and M.J. was right in front of him as she prepared to get to work on his wound. She first put a thicker cloth into it to make sure that the bleeding was done, then applied some iodine, which caused Peter to flinch at the stinging sensation it caused. 

"Sorry," M.J. said, her face squirming a little. 

"It's fine," Peter said, still trying to maintain what little he had left of a tough guy persona, if he ever had it in the first place. 

"So what happened?" May asked. 

"I finally found him, but Yuri was there too," Peter recounted to them. "We were at Norman's penthouse, and she had gotten him out but came back to help, but instead almost got herself killed. I took one of the Goblin's 'razor bats' that he had thrown at her."

"Dude, that's so brave," Ned said, gently nudging him and looking at M.J. Peter couldn't but let out a small chuckle; even now, Ned was still trying to get him in good with the girl he liked. What a best friend. 

"Anyway," Peter promptly continued, "I managed to get a tracer onto the Goblin's glider, so as soon as I'm done here, I'm going to track him down and end this." 

"I assume you'll be contacting your new partner in the police as you do?" May asked, practically suggesting that this should be his course of action.

"Uh," was all Peter could stammer out, and suddenly he could feel all their eyes on him. How was he supposed to make them understand that he couldn't risk anyone else dying because of him? 

"You're not actually thinking of going back out there by yourself?" M.J. asked. By now, she had finished with the iodine and was putting the largest bandage there was on his wound. Peter shuddered a little at the gentle touch of her fingers on his skin before responding. 

"I mean, yeah? I'm the only one who really stands a chance against him." 

"At least let her know what you're up to," May insisted. 

"The less she knows, the better," Peter said, his voice growing more firm. "Like I said, nobody else is going to get hurt because of me."

"At least give your wound some time to heal," M.J. said, and there was that pleading look again. Peter fought it this time.

"I can't afford any more distractions M.J, even for something like this." Immediately after he said this, he noticed her face shift to one of...guilt? He wasn't sure why she looked that way all of a sudden as her eyes shifted downward, away from his. A terrible feeling enveloped his heart, but he forced the memory of Captain Stacy's death and his grieving family back into the forefront of his mind. Like he said, he couldn't afford anymore distractions. Lives were at stake, and as much as he hated it, he would have to deal with what was going on with her later. If he could help it, no more wives were going to lose their husbands, or children their fathers.

He started to stand up so he could grab his suit, which has been set on the chair, but he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to see his aunt's eyes meeting his. 

"Guys, would you give us a minute?" she said, her eyes not looking away from his. M.J. and Ned both got up and quietly walked out of the room, closing the door behind them. 

"You should be ashamed of yourself," May scolded him. Peter's eyes widened as his expression turned to one of shock. 

"For what?" he questioned. 

"Did you not see the look on her face?" May said in a more hushed voice, moving just a little closer to him. 

"I saw it," he affirmed. 

"Well, if you had talked to her the last couple of days, you would know that she blames herself for what happened at the park that day," May informed him. "She thinks that if she had just let you do your job and hadn't selfishly tried to get you to take a break, just for a little bit, then maybe the captain and the others who died in the Goblin's attack might still be alive. You wouldn't know that though, because you have sidelined everyone." 

Peter looked down from his aunt's intense, scolding expression, contemplating what she said. M.J. had no reason to feel that way; what she had suggested was more than reasonable. Still, as one who shouldered too much responsibility, he had to admit he understood how she felt. 

"I'm sorry she feels that way. She has no reason to," he affirmed. 

"Then maybe you should tell her that," May said, her expression finally softening a little. 

"I will, once I take down the Goblin," Peter stubbornly said, thinking it was a concession. May's once again hardened look clearly didn't agree. 

"Peter, you can't keep doing this," she said. 

"I have to, May," he said, starting to put his suit back on. "Someone has got to stop him."

"Why can't you at least call one of your avenger friends to help you?" May inquired. 

"May, the Avengers are basically dead," Peter said, getting a little upset at addressing the topic due to all the memories it brought on. "Last I heard from Sam, him and Bucky were out tracking that Zemo guy after he escaped, Clint's retired, and everybody else is either busy or...gone." 

"Then it sounds like this Yuri person is your only option," May said, folding her arms. 

"No," Peter said as he tapped the centerpiece of his costume, causing it to clamp down on his figure again. He hated being so direct with May like this, because it felt really disrespectful, but he felt he had to make his point. "Nobody else is going to die because of me." 

"You're not going back out there until you promise me that you will contact her," May said, firming up her stance. 

"May, don't do this," Peter almost pleaded. 

"No Peter," May said, "You don't get to isolate yourself like this. It isn't helpful for you in any way, pushing everyone to the sidelines like you are." 

"You think I LIKE doing this?" Peter questioned as he raised his arms and pressed his hands into his chest to emphasize the question. "May, this is killing me inside, but it's what must be done. It's what..." he couldn't bring himself to finish his last sentence; not to her. 

"It's what?" May questioned. "It's what Ben would want? Is that what you were going to say?" May's voice broke a little at the mention of her late husband. 

"Not taking action was what got him killed, you know that," Peter said. He reflected on the memory of the horrible day where he finally confessed to her his role in the death of his uncle. It had taken her some time to accept it, and she went a day or two without being able to say much to him, but they eventually overcame it. 

"You might be able to use your uncle's memory against anyone else," May said as she pointed a finger at Peter, before turning her it around and pointing to herself, "but not on me. You forget that I am the one person who knew him even better than you, and I know how much he believed in responsibility, but it was two fold, both to the world, but also to our families. One of them couldn't be at the sacrifice of the other." 

Peter let out a sigh as he shifted his gaze to the side. He knew she was right, that he was wrong to isolate everyone...especially M.J. He thought back to that night after Peter had spent hours trapped underneath the remains of Oscorp tower. He thought of the promise he made to her, that he was never going to let her go. His heart broke as his thoughts during all of this came collapsing in on each other. M.J. was his girlfriend, and they loved each other. Love meant sacrifice...but what kind of sacrifice? Surely not the kind where hearts are broken, but at the same time, how could he compare that to the loss of human life, and the broken hearts that came from that? 

He shook his head to force himself back to the present. "Alright May, I'll contact Yuri to let her know what I am up to."

"Okay," she said as she let out a breath. "What about M.J. and Ned?" 

Peter glanced towards his door behind him before looking back at his aunt. "Give them my love, and tell them I promise I will make everything right when this is over." He didn't know what making it right meant, but he knew he would have to do something. 

Before his aunt could say anything else, he forced himself back out his almost-always open window, springing out into the city and swinging off. 

"You okay?" Yuri answered.

"I'll make it," Peter said as he swung along, following the signal of where the glider had come to rest. "Careful Yuri, I might almost start to think you were worried about me," he teased, trying to lighten the mood. 

"Only a little," she teased back. "After all, you are superhuman." 

"Got me there," he said before getting into his plan. "I'm following the signal from the tracer I stuck on the Goblin's glider." As he examined the data through his mask lenses, trusting his spider-sense to guide him as he swung, it suddenly dawned on him. "Yuri...it's leading me back to the old building we investigated." 

"That obviously presents a potential problem," Yuri said, and she was right. If the Goblin got in the same way Norman must have, Peter was going to have the same issue he had before. 

"I'll at least see if I can find some clues. Who knows, maybe I'll get lucky," Peter said, trying to sound as optimistic as he could these days. "I'll update you when I know more." 

"Sounds like a plan," Yuri said. 

He finally made it, quietly sneaking his way in through a hole in a window this time. He crept quietly along the wall, sticking to the shadows. At least if he did see the Goblin, he would have the element of surprise. There was no sign of the glider or the Goblin however, and Peter once again started to think he had hit a dead end, when suddenly a section of the wall across the way shifted to reveal an elevator. Peter quickly sprung up so that he was clinging to the wall a little ways above it, still hiding his already darker colored suit in a shadow. He braced himself as he heard the elevator door open, ready to spring into action if the Goblin came out. 

Instead, it was Norman Osborn who came walking out. Peter watched the man for a moment, who seemed to just be innocently walking away. It then dawned on him that he was about to miss a perfectly good opportunity to find out what was underneath this place. Moving quickly but quietly, he made his way down the wall and flipped into the elevator just before it closed, avoiding getting Norman's attention. 

After about 10 seconds, the elevator door opened, and Peter walked out into what appeared to be a place that at one point was used as a lab. However, it looked like it had recently been overhauled into the Goblin's private hideout. He looked around as he walked about, seeing blueprints for various weapons and tech along the walls and on desks. He came to an area where there used to be a window; instead, there were just fragments of shattered glass around the edges of a now open space that lead into a huge room. Peter could see the glider, perched on a platform, as well as the Goblin's suit, which was put up neatly in a see-through storage unit. There was also a very large hole in the wall, which looked like it lead into the underground system of New York. That explained how the Goblin could fit his glider in here at least. 

Exploring the desks, he came upon a few things of interest. First, he noticed on the wall above the desk was a picture of Captain Stacy, which had a razor blade stuck in the head of the picture. Peter's fists clenched in anger at seeing that and he considered tearing it down, but he decided it would be best to leave the scene as it was, should he be able to get Yuri and the police to it. 

He also saw next to it was a list of the various crime families in Manhattan, and they all had green x marks through their names. Either the Goblin was trying to eliminate them....or assimilate them. The second thought honestly terrified him even more. If the Goblin united them all under his rule, he would basically have a small army under his control, especially if he supplied them with any of the weaponry he possessed. 

He looked down on the desk, and caught eye of what appeared to be a recording device, not unlike one he had seen Dr. Connors use in the lab to record the progress of their work. It looked like it had multiple messages, so he tapped the play button. 

"Norman Osborn Serum #15183 Research Log: the project is progressing well. Dr. Warren believes we will be ready to begin human trials very shortly. Joseph of Hammerhead Construction has recently come to me to make a deal, and now I have the guinea pigs I need. Tests will begin immediately."

The first recording ended and Peter took a moment to process what he just heard: Norman and Dr. Miles Warren were working on a serum of some kind, and the man had made a deal with Hammerhead after all to utilize humans for his experiments. How much more was there? Quickly, he pressed play on the next message.

"Norman Osborn Serum #15183 Research Log: none of the test subjects have survived so far, but with every test, we learn something more. Dr. Warren is making continuous improvements, and expects to see more success shortly." 

Wait what? People were DYING, and Norman was just okay with that?? 

Peter was almost scared to press play on the next recording, but he pushed it anyway. 

"Norman Osborn Serum #15183 Final Research Log: It is done. Dr. Warren has finally had a string of successful trials, so it is done. To think, because of a little serum, I will be able to be smarter, stronger, and able to take on more tasks. I will be able to process more information and get more done, and it doesn't hurt that now I will have the literal strength to handle anyone I know who gets in my way. Plus, there are many who will pay a pretty price for this in military forces around the world. I will be more powerful than I ever dreamed of."

There was only one more message left, which puzzled Peter, as the one he had just listened to sounded pretty final. He pressed play one more time, and the air on his neck stood on end and a chill ran down his spine as Norman's cold, calculated voice was replaced by the higher pitched, devilish voice of the Green Goblin. 

"Oh Norman, Norman....you think so small. To think you were going to cower in the shadows, hiding your true power. No, not I; the Green Goblin will burst forth onto the scene and TAKE WHAT IS RIGHTFULLY HIS!! I will cement my place in the world as I take over both Oscorp and the criminal underworld. I will control it all. Then Norman...you will know the true use of power." 

Peter almost dropped the recorder as he reeled over what he just heard. The way the Goblin talked...any time he had addressed Norman, it seemed so personal; really personal. It was almost like the Goblin was a manifestation of Norman's darkest thoughts and desires. They couldn't be the same person though; Norman had been there when the Goblin attacked earlier that night. And yet...

He decided he would process all of this more once he talked with Yuri. He took the recording so she could hear it all in person and they could make a decision on how to proceed, but he left everything else untouched as he headed towards the elevator to leave. 

Once he was back up to the warehouse, he decided to exit out the same window he came in. Just as he was on the outside wall and was preparing to contact Yuri, his spider-sense went nuts. Instinctively, he leaned back to dodge a bullet, then scampered along the wall some more as more bullets continued to rain down on the wall. He retreated back into the building through the window, but moved quickly to exit the main door, setting the system in his mask to scan the immediate area for heat signatures as he did. 

He sprang out the door and fired a web, pulling himself upwards over many of the lower lying buildings in the area. The suit detected a heat signature a small distance away but still hidden over by a building that was still being developed. Whoever it was, they had chosen a more open space this time, as the walls hadn't been put in yet around the floor of the building. More bullets came flying at him, but Peter trusted in his spider-sense and reflexes, deftly dodging and maneuvering around the gunfire until he finally made his way to the shooter's location, pulling the gun away with a web as he came flying into the still-open room. He then pounced on the man, pinning him to the floor. 

"Looks like your little gig of sniping is over pal!" Peter said as the man struggled to no avail to get free. "Who are you anyway?" 

The man responded in what sounded like Russian, though Peter couldn't be too sure. 

"Right," Peter replied. He then dialed Yuri again. 

"Hey Yuri, I'm on my way to you with the guy who tried to kill us the other night as well as something else. Hope you're ready, cause it's....a lot."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost there! Please feel free to let me know what you thought! 
> 
> Stay safe and healthy everyone! 
> 
> "Some trust in chariots and some in horses..." Psalm 20:7


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuri took a seat across the desk from the man, and Peter walked up until he was too her right, also in front of the desk. He was still a little surprised by the situation he found himself in. Was he really about to take part in a police interrogation? 
> 
> "So, I take it you were the guy who tried to kill us last week?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In this chapter: Peter and Yuri interrogate their attacker together, the Goblin attacks once more, and the beginning of Peter's worst nightmare comes to fruition.

The Goblin was quite pleased with himself as he left observed the work of the most recent crime family he took over. Every crime family/organization within New York City was now completely under his control, with the last couple surrendering without a fight. Now, he could organize them into something far greater and more efficient than they ever could've been before. It was already beginning to yield fruit, as the group he was with had just intercepted a large shipment of high tech weapons that would undoubtedly go for a high amount on the black market. He walked around, observing the various items that they stole, smiling all the while. 

"Excellent," he said, rubbing his hands together with excitement. "See that we have buyers for all of these within a week, but remember, we keep the best for ourselves," the Goblin reminded the men he had just dubbed his lieutenants. They nodded and quickly got to work, along with the other men. 

The Goblin then turned to see he had a visitor: the Chameleon. In the masked man's trademark Russian accent, he spoke up.

"We have a problem." 

Peter met up with Yuri outside of the precinct, the man he had captured earlier wrapped up tightly in webbing from neck to waist. He landed a few feet in front of her and passed along the man to her. 

"Here," he said as he released his grip on the webbing that held the man. "Hopefully you can get something out of him. I'm not even sure he speaks any English." 

"I'll see what I can do," Yuri said, eyes focused on the webbed up man, as if she were assessing him. 

"Well, I'd better get going," Peter said, turning to head back to the city. 

"Actually, you need to stay," Yuri said with a surprisingly matter of fact tone that caught Peter off guard. He turned back to face her. 

"I didn't think I was allowed in...you know..." Peter said, pointing towards the precinct building itself. 

"Why not?" Yuri asked, her tone giving off the impression that she thought it was a ridiculous question to have to ask in the first place. 

"Uhh..." Suddenly Peter was at a loss for words. During his brief time working with the captain, they had always met on the roof, as they had set strict rules in place when it came to how they could meet. Granted, a lot had changed in that time, but still, the thought of actually going in the building itself felt...weird.

"I just didn't," he finally stammered out, rubbing the back of his neck area with his gloved hand. 

"Come on," Yuri responded, walking into the precinct with the man. Peter hesitated for a moment before quickly moving to catch up to her. 

As he and Yuri walked through the building, Peter noticed everyone's eyes were on him. Some had curious looks on their faces, some more intense and mean looks, and everything in between. He couldn't get over how weird it was, but he tried to face forward and act like he belonged as much as he could. One thing he did know: he was grateful for his mask now as much as he ever was. 

He and Yuri came up to where the man would be booked, and the officer there gave Peter a skeptical look.

"We need to get this man in an interrogation room," Yuri said to the officer. "We've got some questions for him."

"The vigilante has to leave," the man said, a little frustration evident in his voice. In a way, Peter understood. While many in the police force were grateful for his assistance, there were also many who were frustrated that he was stealing the spotlight from them, or at least stealing the work they got paid to do, and had made that known to him before. He was just about to say something to Yuri that he was willing to comply with the man's request, but she raised her hand towards him as soon as the slightest noise came out of his mouth, not even bothering to look back at him. 

"Spider-Man brought this man in. If anything, he's a witness to what this man had done and he needs to stay so we can get the whole story. He's not leaving," she said, and Peter couldn't even imagine the look she must've given him as the other officer's once hard expression mellowed out considerably. 

"Very well," the officer said, and he proceeded to lead them to the nearest interrogation room. Once they arrived, Peter followed Yuri into the room, where he observed as she sat him down in the chair. The webs still had a little while before they would begin to dissolve, so he couldn't be handcuffed to the desk, but he was still l subdued well enough. 

Yuri took a seat across the desk from the man, and Peter walked up until he was too her right, also in front of the desk. He was still a little surprised by the situation he found himself in. Was he really about to take part in a police interrogation? 

"So, I take it you were the guy who tried to kill us last week?" Yuri said, getting straight to the point. The man responded in another language (Peter was still thinking Russian, though he wasn't sure), and had the biggest smirk on his face when he finished, as if he was proud that the they couldn't understand him. 

That is, until Yuri spoke the same language back at him. 

Peter turned and looked at her, his mask's lenses wide as they could be, reflecting the shocked expression on his face. He glanced at their prisoner, who face turned pale as a sheet. 

"You know Russian?" Peter asked her, surprise still evident in his voice. 

"Never knew when it might come in handy," she said, her gaze not shifting from their prisoner. 

"Well, what did he say?" 

"You don't want to know." 

"You still won't get anything out of me," their prisoner said, apparently realizing using his native language was pointless now. Peter could tell he was still trying to regain his confidence after Yuri's little surprise. 

"Look pal," Peter said, feeling free to speak up now that he knew the man understood him, "you're not the first Russian I've managed to get information out of, so why don't you just save yourself the trouble now." 

"I'm surprised the great Sergei Kravinoff would be so weak," the man said. 

Peter's eyes widened in surprise once more. "Wait, you know Kraven?" 

The man looked down, and Peter watched as his face twisted ever so slightly into one of...anger, maybe? Something was buried underneath the stone cold facade the man was desperately trying to maintain, but there was something, a frustration perhaps, in how he had said Kraven's real name. As Peter thought on it for a minute, he realized the man looked young. Not as young as he was, by any means, but young enough to possibly be....

"You're his son, aren't you?" Yuri spoke up, her mind having apparently drawn the same conclusion as Peter's. 

"Illegitimate son," the man said in a correcting tone, the anger beginning to rise in his thick, Russian accent. "He never wanted me, so I moved on, found other family that would take me." 

"By 'other family,' you wouldn't mean Dmitri Smerdyakov, would you?" Yuri questioned. The man looked away, which likely meant her guess had been right. 

"Who's that?" Peter asked, turning back to her.

"An international professional impersonator known as the Chameleon," Yuri clarified, her eyes still not leaving their prisoner. "He's responsible for various thefts, espionage, and even assassinations around the world. We had gotten a warning from Interpol that me may be in New York, but had found nothing to confirm it so far." 

"My uncle is the best there is at what he does," the man bragged. "You'll never find him."

Wait, a professional impostor? Peter stepped off to the side, running a hand over his head as he pondered what this could mean. He could hear Yuri continue to question the man, but he processed none of what was being said in the room as his mind ran wild. He kept coming back to the recording he had found, how it when it's user switched from the Norman to the Goblin, it had sounded so personal when it said the former's name. Had M.J.'s hunch been right? 

"I'm only going to ask you once more," Yuri said as Peter's mind finally came back to the present enough to process her words. "Who has your uncle been impersonating, and why were you trying to kill us?" 

"I do not know the full scope of what my uncle is doing, but what I do know, you'll get out of me," the man claimed boldly. 

"Norman Osborn," Peter muttered as he glared through his mask at the man. 

"What?" he heard Yuri ask. 

"That's who hired your uncle, isn't it?" Peter continued, training his eyes on the man, who did not respond. 

"What makes you think that?" Yuri questioned. "That's a pretty big leap." 

"Not when you listen to this," Peter said, and he pulled out the recording, setting in on the table and playing through all the messages. Once it was finished, he gave Yuri a moment to process. 

"Think about it," Peter said after a moment, "the Goblin's voice was the final recording on this. He sounds like he has something personal against Norman, yet the man himself hasn't even been attacked once." 

"What about earlier tonight?" Yuri questioned, her attention now fully on Peter. 

"That's just it," Peter said, getting more enthusiastic as everything started coming to him. "Norman sent me outside, and within minutes, the Goblin attacks. What if that attack wasn't intended to be on Norman, but on us?" 

Yuri's gaze shifted away from him, her eyes squinting, seemingly trying to process all of this. She looked once more toward their prisoner. 

"Can you tell me if your uncle has been impersonating Norman Osborn?" she asked him pointedly. The man looked away, clearly trying to avoid the question. 

"I want a lawyer," the man finally spoke up. 

"Listen to me," Peter said, putting both his hands on the desk and leaning in closer to the man. "If my theory is right, you're a dead man." 

"Excuse me?" the man questioned, the look on his face seemingly a mixture of both anger and fear. 

"If your uncle is impersonating the man who is now the Green Goblin, than he is clearly working for someone who doesn't like loose ends, which is exactly what you are right now," Peter clarified. "Look at what he did to the captain." 

The man's expression turned even more fearful. "My uncle would never allow that, he'd make sure that didn't happen," the man said, though he didn't particularly sound convincing in Peter's mind. 

"Trust me, the Goblin would sooner kill you and your uncle then let either of you stand in his way, and that's assuming your uncle is as loyal to you as you think," Peter said. 

"If you tell us everything you know, we might be able to work out a deal to get you protection," Yuri said. "However, if my friend here is right, we might be short on time already, so I would choose quickly if I were you." 

Just as the man was about to speak up once more, Peter's spider-sense rang out in his head. 

"GET DOWN!!" he yelled, grabbing Yuri and leaping forward, trying to shield both her and the prisoner as the roof above them exploded. Peter turned around, keeping the other two in the room behind him, as the Green Goblin slowly descended into the roof on his glider. 

"This is the last time I grant a favor to a contractor," the Goblin said, shaking his head as he spoke. "Out of the way, Spider-Man! I need to have a word with your friend here about his severance package." 

"Sorry Gobs, but I'm afraid he's already planning to sue," Peter quipped, tensing his body as he spoke, getting himself ready for action. "I've already heard some nasty rumors about unsafe work environments in your operation." 

"Is that so?" the Goblin answered, one of his trademark grins spreading across his face. "Well, perhaps I shall have to give a proper demonstr...." 

Peter cut the Goblin off as he jumped onto his glider, yanking his green clad adversary and causing them both to exit the building on the glider through the hole in the roof. Once they were several feet up, the Goblin threw Peter off the glider. He landed on his hands and feet on the roof of an adjacent building, immediately looking back up towards his foe. 

"I must say Spider-Man, it was quite a surprise to find you here," the Goblin shouted down to him. "I had no idea you were so cozy with the police." 

"You know how it is; we're still in the early stages of our relationship," Peter retorted back. 

The Goblin lowered his glider closer to he was only a few feet above Peter, squatting down as he spoke. "I can't lie, you've impressed me, Spider-Man," he said, which caught off guard. "So I'm going to give you one chance: join me. Together, we could rule this city. None would stand in our way!" 

"No thanks, Gobby; the Avengers offer a better package," Peter taunted back. "Besides, I have a feeling you'd force me to wear green, and I just can't picture myself in it." 

"Too bad," the Goblin said as his glider rose up higher into the air once more. "Then again, it'll be more fun having any remains of your suit as a trophy once I dispose of you anyway." 

The Goblin was too high for Peter to catch this time, so he opted to hop off the roof and into the city, narrowly dodging a bomb the Goblin threw his way. It exploded, taking out a small section of the outside wall of a nearby building. Peter fired a web, swinging quickly into the city, trying to maintain as much distance between himself and the Goblin as his adversary repeatedly chucked bombs in his vicinity. He continually avoided them, but he was getting more and more concerned that someone was going to get hurt. He was lucky that he wasn't in an area that was very busy at this time of night, but he still needed to get the green menace to a more abandoned area to minimize the risk of anyone else getting caught up in this. 

He spotted a construction site and he pulled his web tightly, narrowly missing another bomb as he changed direction. He made his way through the still under development skyscraper, eventually coming out the other side and quickly pulled his web tight so he would end up back flipping onto the roof. The Goblin came out moments later, but wasn't fast enough in turning around as Peter jumped him, taking him off his glider. The two of them exchanged punches at they descended towards the ground below, until Peter fired a web onto a nearby crane, grabbing the back of the Goblin's suit with his free hand. Swinging forward, he tossed the Goblin onto the ground. 

"Spider-Man, are you there?" Yuri's voice suddenly came through Peter's mask. 

"Yeah, I'm here," Peter said as he fired multiple webs, sticking the Goblin to the ground. "You okay?" 

"Not exactly," she replied, and Peter cold hear what sounded like gunfire going crazy around her. "The Goblin must have called in reinforcements, because we got a bunch the precinct is being hit with enough ammunition to power a small army!" 

"Hang tight Yuri, I'll be there as soon as I can," Peter said. 

"Looks like someone's needed elsewhere," the Goblin taunted. 

Peter fired some more webbing to make sure the Goblin didn't go anywhere, not even bothering to respond to his adversary's taunt before taking off back in the direction of the precinct. 

Soon enough, Peter was within viewing range of the precinct, and he could already tell it wasn't good: the Goblin's men had all manner of insane weaponry, from heavy duty military guns, to rocket launchers, to tech that looked like stuff Adrian Toomes used to sell. Quickly moving in, he sprung into action on the roof first. 

"Sorry guys, but these things are for cheaters," Peter said as he webbed away their various weapons before quickly knocking out/webbing up each one. He then dove off the roof, twisting and turning to avoid the bullets blazing his way. He fired a web and pulled tight to slow his momentum before landing on a car. 

"This precinct is closed, so come back...actually, don't come back at all!" he shouted, moving right through most guys. Moving faster than his opponents could track, he expertly disarmed and took them out. As he did this, Peter noticed as some of the police took advantage of their attackers' attention being diverted and subdued a lot of guys as well. 

It took a little bit, after a while, they finally had things under control. Yuri came out and met him as they were finishing clean up. 

"Where's our new best friend?" Peter asked. 

"Safe, luckily," Yuri said, relief apparent in her voice. "He said he'll definitely agree to testify now. Where's the Goblin?" 

Before Peter could answer, his spider-sense went crazy. "Not again!" he thought. 

"Did someone say my name!" the Goblin shouted from his glider. Peter jumped up to meet him once more, but this time his foe anticipated it, snagging him. 

"How in the world did you get free?" Peter questioned as the Goblin pulled him up to face level.

"You forgot about my favorite toy," the Goblin said, pointing down to his glider. "Too bad that's a lesson you won't live to use!" 

The Goblin then stuck a bomb onto his Peter chest and released his grip on him. Peter pulled hard, but there was a particularly strong green adhesive of some kind that was keeping the bomb stuck to his suit. Pulling hard, he finally tore the bomb off, along with the section of his suit it was stuck too, but he couldn't get it up into the air far enough before it detonated.

BOOM!

The blast sent him crashing into a nearby flower shop through the window. He knocked over who knows how much stuff on his way to hitting the ground with a thud. He groaned as he got up, the cackle of his approaching adversary ringing in his ears. He then heard what sounded like a gasp come from the Goblin, which puzzled him. 

"Well, well, well," he could hear the Goblin say as he tried to shake off the cobwebs and get to his feet. "I must say, it's very nice to meet you...Peter Parker!" 

No. It couldn't be. 

Peter quickly put a hand to his face, and sure enough the left side of his mask was gone due to the explosion. 

"Hmm...you know Peter," he could hear the Goblin say, "isn't there a nice, sweet, yet spunky girl that you could be with right now, instead of getting in the way of my business. 

"No," Peter said as he tried to get up, but he was still not fully recovered from the shock of the blast, and the Goblin avoided his sad attempt at a punch, grabbing the back of his head as he flew past him. 

"You should've listened when Osborn told you that you would regret not joining him one day, for I am his ultimate evolution: smarter, stronger, and willing to go so much farther than he ever was. Now, because of your selfishness in interfering in what was not your business, you will watch her DIE!" 

The Goblin chucked Peter's head downward, and Peter could hear his adversary laughing manically as he got back on his glider and took off. He forced himself up, exiting through the window and firing a web and launching himself up into the New York night as fast as he could. 

Right now, it didn't matter that his suspicions about the Goblin's true identity were all but confirmed, or that he had subdued at least a portion of the Goblin's forces. 

Right now, all that mattered, all that he could think about, was stopping that madman from taking the life of the one he loved.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost there! 
> 
> I apologize if this chapter felt a bit rushed, but I didn't have the time I wanted to look over it before posting. Hope you still like it! Feel free to leave your thoughts. 
> 
> Stay safe and healthy! 
> 
> "Do not be overcome by evil..." Romans 12:21


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "M.J! The Green Goblin found out who I am and he's coming after you! You need to get out of the apartment, now!" he yelled into his mask. If he couldn't talk to her directly, he could at least try and warn her and hope she got the message. 
> 
> He tried to go even faster, pushing himself to his limit as he navigated the concrete jungle of Manhattan, one web at a time. 
> 
> "Hold on M.J. I'm coming," he said with a quiet conviction. He wasn't going to fail. He couldn't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was so excited that I couldn't wait for 2 days like I usually do, so here is the newest chapter a day early!
> 
> Anyway...
> 
> In this chapter: Peter races against the clock, M.J. encounters the Goblin face to face, and the conflict between Spider-Man and the Green Goblin finally comes to a head.

Peter flew through the air, shooting out web after web, trying to go as fast as he could to get to M.J.'s apartment. The Goblin had got a solid head start on him, but he couldn't give up, not with what was at stake. 

About halfway there, he finally realized he had been overlooking something he could do, and he tapped the side of his mask. "Call M.J," he said. 

The repeated ringing sound was excruciating, and the next sound he heard was even worse:

"Hi, this is Michelle Jones. I'm either too busy or I just don't care enough to come to the phone right now. Leave a message and hope I'll get back to you, cause I probably won't."

She ALWAYS answered for him! Was he already too late?

"M.J! The Green Goblin found out who I am and he's coming after you! You need to get out of the apartment, now!" he yelled into his mask. If he couldn't talk to her directly, he could at least try and warn her and hope she got the message. 

He tried to go even faster, pushing himself to his limit as he navigated the concrete jungle of Manhattan, one web at a time. 

"Hold on M.J. I'm coming," he said with a quiet conviction. He wasn't going to fail. He couldn't. 

M.J. was furious with herself at the moment. After Peter had left again, May had told them he was unlikely to come back anytime soon and insisted that she and Ned go home. She tried to stay, but May wouldn't back down, saying that just because Peter wasn't taking care of himself didn't mean she had to be the same way. She only gave in after May promised to let her know as soon as Peter showed up, and Ned had been kind enough to offer to walk her home. 

When she had gotten home, she was tired, but she wasn't about to go to sleep yet, not while Peter was still out there. Her mom was working late that night and hadn't had a chance to get to the dishes, so M.J. had decided to take care of that to keep herself busy. As she had gotten started, she had set her phone down on the counter and gotten to work. Every once in a while she would check it, even though the ring and notification noises were set as loud as they could be. Her fifth time checking her phone, she had been just a little too careless, and dropped it in the water filled side of the sink. It had taken less than a second to get it out, but it still managed to be ruined. After chastising herself out loud multiple times for her carelessness, she collected herself and had set it in the some rice to try and dry it out, which was where it currently sat. 

While she waited for her phone to dry out and (hopefully) be able to work again, M.J. decided to try and occupy herself any way she could. She tried everything: reading, drawing, watching a murder documentary, but nothing helped. She finally went up to her room and collapsed on her bed, slamming the back of her head against the pillow as she let out a groan. No matter what she tried to do to distract herself, it was no good. So many thoughts were assaulting her brain right now, and they all had to do with that dork she was in love with. 

She thought of how he was so equally brave and dumb, trying to take on the Goblin alone like this, because he didn't want anyone else to get hurt. 

She thought of how, if she had just let him go out on patrol earlier that evening, maybe the police captain the Goblin killed would still be alive. 

She thought of him when he had come back to his apartment injured, and how...distant he had seemed. 

Most of all, one thought kept coming back to her mind: Please, let Peter Parker be safe. 

M.J. was shaken out of her thoughts by the sound of an alarm. It was one of the devices that Pepper had given her and her mom after the whole kidnapping incident. It was a piece of tech about the size and shape of a phone, and was linked up to some of the security measures that Pepper had been kind enough to have installed. 

She sprang up from her bed and and sprinted out of the room and down the hall, reaching the nightstand by the couch near where she was sitting earlier and left the device. She quickly scooped it up, moving some loose strands of her hair behind her right ear so she could more clearly examine the alert that was on the screen. 

It was a proximity alert, and she tapped the screen so that the camera feed would pull up on the screen, and her heart almost stopped at the sight.

The Green Goblin was heading directly towards the apartment. Worse, there was no sign of Peter. Was he dead? Had he been captured? 

"Focus," she told herself, and after some quick gestures on the screen, she set up the security measures, including sending some small drones, about the size of a TV remote each, that all packed the maximum amount of voltage legally allowed in a taser. She then ran to grab her jacket and her keys, but just as she was at the door, an explosion rocked the apartment and sent her flying, eventually landing on her side with a hard thud. She slowly gathered herself as a horrific cackling could be heard coming into the room. 

"I must say my dear," the Goblin said as he came into focus, slowly moving past the smoke, his glider barely hovering over the floor. "I wasn't expecting a welcoming party," he said as he held up one of the taser drones she had sent out before casually discarding it to the side. M.J. watched as he hopped off his glider and strode towards her. Looking into those eyes in his mask was like looking into the eyes of the devil himself, and it sent a shiver down her spine. Still, she picked herself up, forcing herself to swallow her fear and act. 

"That's only the beginning," she said as she maneuvered around the couch and away from him. If she could just lead him to the right spot...

"I must admit, I see what could draw a superhero to you, my dear," the Goblin said as he walked closer to her. She was grateful that he seemed in no hurry, clearly feeling as though he was still in control. "You're dangerous," he continued, "unpredictable...the rarest form of beauty." 

"You have no idea," she said as suddenly the Goblin's feet were trapped by metals cuffs that had sprang up from the floor. The Goblin looked down, seemingly caught off guard by this new development. 

"Impressive," he said, and he sounded surprisingly genuine to her. "You could give that boy in Home Alone a run for his money!" 

M.J. ignored him as she ran around him, making sure to keep well out of his reach, going for the door. The explosion had resulted in a pretty contained series of flames so far, but she wasn't taking any chances, in addition to the obvious green and purple clad reason she needed to leave. However, she was suddenly cut off by the glider, which hovered in front of the door. 

"Sorry, but I'm afraid the party is only getting started, sweetheart!" the Goblin said. She turned and watched as he pulled out a small device from inside one of his gloves, holding it down to fire a laser at the metal that was keeping his feet in place. Within seconds, he was free. She started frantically tapping at the device that was still in her hand to activate the next level of measures, but a sharp object came flying in, knocking it out of her hand. 

"Whatever measures you have set up, I'm afraid none of it will matter in the end," the Goblin said as he strode up to her. She could only stare into his eyes as he did.

"Now, if you'll be very kind and come with me, I'm afraid we have a party go get to," the Goblin said, holding out his hand like he really expected her to just go with him. Her face hardened into a stoic resolve as she glared at him, letting her silence answer for her. 

"So that's the way it's going to be," the Goblin said, the smile dropping from his face as he shook his head and let out a sigh. "Very well, I'll just have to..." 

M.J. had been so focused on the Goblin that it took her a second to realize that Peter had come flying in, a blur of red and black, and slammed into her attacker, causing them both to go flying out of the window on the other side of the room. When she realized what happened, she ran towards the window, and could only watch as they exchanged blows. She then noticed the flames still there, but mostly contained from the blast. Still, she grabbed a fire extinguisher hanging nearby (she had told her mom they could never be too prepared) and went to work putting the flames out, all the while hoping against all hope that Peter was okay. 

"STAY AWAY FROM HER!!!!!" Peter yelled out in anger as he held onto the Goblin with one hand, the other forming a fist that was repeatedly striking blows to his enemy's face. As they neared the alley below, Peter made sure the Goblin was below him, slamming him into the ground and only taking a small portion of the overall blow. He didn't even wait for the Goblin to get up, delivering a powerful blow to his foe's rib cage, sending him straight into the wall of the next building over, sticking him in it. Peter lunged forward again, his entire being acting on pure adrenaline, and struck blow after blow into the Goblin. 

When he had fought the Goblin in Times Square, Peter had allowed his frustration to result in carelessness. This time, he channeled his rage into pure thought and swift action, not relenting against the Goblin for even a moment. He threw punch after punch, eventually ripping the Goblin from the hole in the wall and slamming him into the ground at Peter's feet. He grabbed the Goblin by the back side of the mask and shot his knee into his foe's stomach, causing a cracking noise to be heard. Peter had likely broken at least one of his enemy's ribs with that blow, but he didn't care. He kept going, throwing a mixture of punches and kicks, not giving the Goblin ANY opportunity to retaliate. 

Finally, he threw the Goblin into the back of the alley, immediately leaping back behind him. He shot multiple webs to hold the Goblin's feet in place on the ground, then another one that was just enough to get around the Goblin's neck, and Peter grabbed at the opposite ends of it and pulled hard. His enemy began choking, struggling to get free of the hero's vice like grip on the web. Peter pressed his right foot into the Goblin's back, minimizing his foe's efforts to struggle free. He pulled tighter. Another few seconds, and he would be free of this filth forever. M.J. and his loved ones would be safe again, and Captain Stacy would at last have justice, the same justice that...

Peter suddenly released his grip on the web, causing the Goblin to drop to his hands, gasping. What was he doing? He thought back to when he had felt a similar rage before...the night his Uncle Ben had been murdered. He had went after Ben's killer with the same attitude as he had been with the Goblin, and even after learning of his own role in his uncle's death, he had still felt the overwhelming urge to kill his opponent as he held the man over a broken window, preparing to drop him 30 feet straight to his death. He had settled for leaving him on the dock wrapped up in webbing, because he remembered his Uncle's words: "With great power, comes great responsibility." 

Those same words were ringing in his head once more, and he knew he couldn't do it now, just as he couldn't then. His powers came with the responsibility to use them the right way, and not to sink to the levels of people like the Halloween dressed sociopath at his feet right now. 

"Wow," the Goblin spoke up. Peter walked around so that he was in front of the Goblin, standing over him. "For a moment, I thought you were going to do it. Deep down, I knew better though." The Goblin rose so that he was on his knees, and he looked up at Peter. "That's why I'll win in the end. No matter how many times it takes, no matter how much effort will be involved, I will take that which is most precious from you. Then, I'll take everything else. You will be left with nothing: no girl, no aunt, no LIFE....then, once I have broken you, I WILL force you to draw your last breath. I will win in the end, Spider-Man," the Goblin said as Peter observed the trademark grin on the man's face. 

"Let me be very clear about something," Peter said, and he grabbed the top of the Goblin's mask, pulling to sure enough reveal the face of the man he had come to suspect was behind it: Norman Osborn. The man's facial expression did not change at all without the mask. Peter squatted down just a little, just enough to still be above Norman while looking him in the eye. 

"No matter what you do," Peter resumed, "no matter how much you take from me, no matter how much pain you bring upon my life....you will NEVER break me, Norman." 

"We'll see about that," Norman said, the Goblin's higher pitched voice still coming out of his mouth. 

Peter rose up, quickly drew his right arm back and struck one more blow to the Goblin's head with as much force as he had left, effectively knocking his enemy unconscious. 

He took a deep breath, bending over and putting his hands on his knees. 

He did it. He won. 

It then hit him that he was being watched, and he looked up to see none other than M.J, staring down at him through the window he and the Goblin had exited out of. After tightly encasing the Goblin's body in webbing from neck to toe and sending a message to Nick Fury that the Raft needed to make room for a new member, he scrambled up the wall, and as he reached her, they practically melted into each other's arms. There was so much he wanted to say, but in the end, there was just silence between them as they just stood there, wrapped tightly in each other's embrace, like there was nothing else in the world going on. 

Right now, nothing else mattered to Peter anyway, except that she was safe. 

M.J. was safe. 

He did it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been planning the events that unfold in this chapter since early on in this story. For the most part, it stayed in tact: M.J. always was going to survive, Peter was always going to stop just short of killing the Goblin, etc. Some things were added as the story came into focus, but this mostly adheres to some ideas I had been storing away since Endangered Species. 
> 
> The last chapter will see Peter following up on loose ends involving Yuri, the Goblin, but will most importantly deal with him beginning to reconcile the true scope of his responsibilities as both Peter and Spider-Man. 
> 
> Anyway, I hope you liked it! Thoughts are always appreciated :) 
> 
> Stay safe and healthy everyone! 
> 
> "Do not say, 'I'll pay you back for this wrong',"....Proverbs 20:22


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Over the next couple of weeks following the Goblin's capture, Peter spends quite a bit of time doing something surprisingly normal: studying for midterms. It feels good to him, honestly: just sitting with his friends, studying for their second to last set of big tests in their high school lives. When you compare them to taking down a flying green and purple dressed nutcase who killed a police captain, found out your secret identity and tried to kill your girlfriend, all while taking control of every criminal family in New York City...really, it's not even close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it! 
> 
> In this chapter: Loose ends are tied up, a new alliance is forged, and Peter finally begins the path towards reconciling with his inner turmoil.

Over the next couple of weeks following the Goblin's capture, Peter spends quite a bit of time doing something surprisingly normal: studying for midterms. It feels good to him, honestly: just sitting with his friends, studying for their second to last set of big tests in their high school lives. When you compare them to taking down a flying green and purple dressed nutcase who killed a police captain, found out your secret identity and tried to kill your girlfriend, all while taking control of every criminal family in New York City...really, it's not even close. 

As the time for the tests draw near, Peter also deals with some loose ends. For starters, he meets with Yuri a few days after the incident on the rooftop of the police station that was still fixing the hole that the Goblin had put in the building when he made his dramatic entrance. They discuss the man Peter brought in, who by that time had spilled all the beans he knew about: his name was Alyosha Kravinoff, and he had come to work for Norman Osborn on the recommendation of his uncle, Dmitri Smerdyakov. His uncle apparently had a knack for impersonating people, taking on the international alias of the Chameleon and selling his skill set to the highest bidder, performing every task from stealing corporate secrets to assassinating diplomats. Most recently, he had been contracted by Norman Osborn to impersonate the police chief (who he had also murdered), then Norman himself once the Goblin persona took over. 

"Did he give you a location where his uncle might be?" Peter eventually asked, standing about 5 feet from Yuri, feeling the chilly breeze of the Manhattan December air. 

"He did, but unfortunately his uncle had already escaped," Yuri replied, and Peter noted the disappointment evident in her voice. "For all we know, he could be on the other side of the world right now." 

"Yeah," Peter replied. 

"So..." Yuri started off, looking straight into Peter's eyes as if his mask wasn't there. "I think you and I need to have a conversation." 

"About what?" Peter asks, before mentally slapping himself in the face, because DUH! "Oh, right, you mean about us working together. Well, what do you think? Can you handle working with a stubborn, overprotective masked man who wears red and black spandex as a partner?" he asked.

"I don't know," Yuri answered, her voice carrying a bit of playful tone before turning a little more serious. "Can you handle a stubborn woman who won't be sidelined when there's work to be done?" 

"I can't promise I won't pull a stunt like that again," Peter honestly admitted. 

"And I can't promise I won't give you a lecture on the stupidity of that decision when whatever crisis happening at that time is over," Yuri countered. At least she was honest. 

"Very well then," Peter said before taking a step forward and extending his gloved right hand. "Partners?" 

Yuri reached her hand out in return, clasping his firmly as they shook on it. "Partners," she replied, and Peter swore he could detect the slightest hint of a smile on her face. 

The next day, he got a call he had been anticipating from Maria Hill with an update on the Goblin. 

"How bad is he?" Peter asked. 

"Well, everyone who's examined him says his madness is like nothing they've ever seen," she answered honestly. "From what they told me, it's likely that the insanity was a side effect of the serum he took. The effect was likely almost instantaneous." 

"That doesn't make sense," Peter questioned. "Norman seems like the kind of guy who would make absolutely sure that there was no possibility of something like that happening before he took a sip of whatever it was that enhanced him." 

"Well, some think it might not be the serum on its own," Hill continued, "but perhaps the serum exacerbating already preexisting issues in Norman's psychosis. We pulled some files on him, and let's just say he has a few issues going on upstairs. Maybe not anything that the untrained eye would notice in his behavior, but enough where a super drug with the right stuff in it could have devastating effects. For now, we're keeping him in isolation."

"How long do you think it will take to cure him?" Peter asked. When she didn't answer at first, he repeated his question: "How long?" 

"There's no way to know, Peter," Hill said, dropping the secret agent facade and addressing him with a little more sentiment on her voice. "The people who examined him say they wouldn't have a clue where to start. It might be irreversible." 

Peter put his free hand over his face before running it through his hair, coming to rest it on the back of his head. "Okay. Just...do what you can, please." While Peter had hardly a positive thought of Norman in his mind, he remembered the man mentioning a son; Harry, was it? If nothing else, he wanted to do his very best to give the guy his father back, however terrible the man himself was. 

"We will, Peter; don't worry," Hill replied before hanging up. 

Peter practically drudged through the last few days of school. Luckily, Brad and Flash both left him alone (probably due to the death glares M.J. frequently gave both of them). He focused his mind on his classes as best he could, happy to have something to distract from the thoughts that were plaguing his mind in the aftermath of this mess. M.J. and Ned stuck close to him, but in a way, it just made things worse. He told them that he just needed some time to process everything, including the captain's death. They were both very understanding, thankfully, because they were the last people he wanted to discuss what was going on in his head. He thought back to Captain Stacy's death, as well as the Goblin's threat. In the immediate aftermath of the latter, he was so relieved that she was alive that all he could do was hold her close. Now that he'd had some time, the same thoughts that plagued his mind regarding what his true responsibility was came roaring back. 

These thoughts were only made worse by the fact that May had offered to have M.J. and her mom stay with the two of them until they found a new apartment. He remained busy, but he still saw her a lot, which should've been great, accept it tore at his heart instead. Was he really just putting her in greater danger? Was he being selfish? If he really cared about her, shouldn't he leave her to have a much more fulfilling and less dangerous life without him? Should he just join Fury and Hill full time and leave behind anyone he cared about, so he didn't risk them getting hurt while doing more good for people? 

At the same time, what about what May had told him that night? Uncle Ben had believed in responsibility, both to the world AND to his loved ones. But how could Peter reconcile the two? 

After midterms were over and Peter was spending more time around the apartment, he could tell M.J. was noticing that something was on his mind. She never said anything, but he frequently noticed concern in her eyes, and sometimes she would reach over and gently squeeze his hand with her own, and it KILLED him inside, because he was beginning to feel she deserved better. He kept recalling his promise to her though; he had said he would never leave her. 

"Ugh, what I am I going to do?" he wondered out loud one night while perched atop the Empire State Building during a patrol. 

Before he knew it, Christmas Eve was upon him. This year, May had decided they were going to host a small gathering at their apartment. The guest list would include Ned and Betty, as well as both of their families, and Pepper and Morgan. M.J. and her mom were obviously going to be there as well, since they lived there right now. 

May had checked before planning this, and Peter had assured her that he would be fine. It took a little repeating on his part, but she finally seemed convinced enough and sent out the invites. Secretly though, he was dreading it. Almost everyone he cared about was going to be in one room, and he feared his mind would run wild with everything it had been processing recently. He had decided it was going to be a good night though, and he was determined to make that a reality, if nothing else for May. 

The day finally came, and as Peter and May were getting everything ready, they realized they had forgotten the sugar they needed for the fudge May had intended to make. 

"I'll get it May; Mr. Delmar's place is probably still open. I'll just run there real quick," he offered. His aunt offered no objection, so he grabbed his coat and headed out. 

As he approached Delmar's, his spider-sense alerted him that the place was currently being robbed. Peter ducked into a nearby alley, quickly taking off his clothes to reveal his Spider-Man suit underneath. Mr. Delmar had managed to rebuild after the weapon incident back several years ago; no way was Peter going to let him have to go through something like that again. 

"Guys, c'mon!" Peter cried out as he webbed the gun away from the man keeping Mr. Delmar from doing anything. "It's Christmas Eve! Good will toward men and all that, ya know?" Working quickly, but also being careful not to damage anything, he made short work of the two men that were holding the man up, tightly wrapping them in webbing and leaving them hanging on a nearby lamppost outside the store. 

"That's twice now you saved my life," Mr. Delmar acknowledged once Peter had returned into the store to check on him. "Please, is there any way I can repay you?" 

"Actually," Peter said before quickly running to grab the sugar he had originally come to get. "You can let me purchase this real quick," he said, setting the sugar on the counter, before reaching for the money he intended to pay with, only to remember that he had left with his clothes in the alley. 

"It's on the house," Mr. Delmar offered just as Peter was ready to take off to get the money. 

"Oh sir, you really don't have to," Peter assured him, waving his hands in a dismissive manner. 

"I want to," Mr. Delmar said, grabbing the sugar and holding it out for Peter to take. "Merry Christmas," the man offered. Peter decided to take the man up on his generosity anyway, offering multiple thank yous on his way out the door. 

He then decided he would just stay in his suit and swing back, so he formed a little "bag" out of his webbing, putting his clothes inside and stuffing the sugar in the center of his clothes to keep it protected during the swing. 

As Peter was making his way home, his mind returned to the usual thoughts that were ever present in his mind these days, and he pulled to a stop on a nearby building, wondering how he was going to make it through the evening. 

He suddenly heard the sound of a choir singing Christmas music, and he realized it was coming from the building he had landed on, which was actually the church he had stopped a robbery at before all of this mess had started. Deciding he could spare a moment, he made his way down to the front of the building, quietly letting himself in the main doors this time. 

Peter stayed just outside of the doors of the sanctuary as he listened and watched the choir perform O Holy Night. The guests weren't many, with what looked like friends and family mostly sitting in the main front rows, so he didn't risk being caught too much, or at least that's what he thought before his spider-sense went off. It was very mild though, so he simply turned around, intending to plead guilty to wanting to listen to a song or two, only to realize it was the pastor he had met before. 

"Oh, hey there pastor," Peter said, making sure to keep his voice down. "Sorry for intruding like this, but I just thought I'd come to see a little of..."

"Spider-Man, it's fine," the pastor cut him off before coming to shake his hand. "And please, call me Drew." 

"Isn't that, you know, in poor taste on my part to do?" Peter questioned. 

"Not at all," the pastor assured him. 

"Okay Drew," Peter said, finally accepting his hand to shake. "They sing beautifully, by the way." 

"Thank you; without you stopping those guys, this probably wouldn't have been able to happen," Drew said. 

"Just doing my friendly neighborhood duty sir," Peter said, waving a hand to indicate it was no big deal. He then turned and glanced back into the auditorium, remaining silent for a moment. 

"Something on your mind?" Drew asked. 

"What makes you say that?" Peter asked, a little surprised by the pastor's question. 

"You just seem a little...lost," Drew offered gently. 

"Well..." next thing he knew, Peter was spilling everything about how the captain's death had affected him and raised questions regarding the safety of his loved ones and what was best for them. 

"Sorry to dump all of that on you sir," Peter offered apologetically. 

"Not at all; it's kind of in my job description," the pastor kindly replied. 

"I just...I want to do what's right by as many people as possible, I guess. My life is dangerous, but at the same time, I don't want to lose them," Peter admitted. "Does that make any sense, pa...Drew?" 

"More than you know," Drew offered, suddenly looking very reflective. 

"What do you mean?" Peter asked. 

"A while back, before I took on this congregation, I felt God calling me to go preach and start up a church on some remote islands out in the middle of nowhere. My wife and son faithfully went with me as I set out to do just that," Drew offered. 

"Must've been tough on you guys," Peter responded, crossing his arms and tilting his head a little. 

"That was only the beginning," Drew continued. "We had been told these people could be quite hostile, but 3 months into our time there, we found out just how true that was. One night, my wife and I came back to where we were staying to find my son beaten within an inch of his life. It was a warning for us to go home." 

"Did you?" Peter asked. 

"Not right away," Drew said. "My wife and I took care of him as we prayed and talked a lot about it, before deciding to press on for a few more months. We made sure to look out for each other as best we could, but it was still a risk, even though some of the locals assured us that those who had attacked our son were dealt with. A few months later, we ended up getting a church set up, and left once we felt they were able to begin taking care of themselves." 

"Do you...do you regret bringing your wife and son along with you?" Peter asked. 

"I do think about it sometimes," Drew admitted. "That's when I remember that my wife and I had agreed that, whatever God called us to do, we were going to faithfully do together. I believe He put her in my life for a reason. I don't know what you believe, but I have a feeling there's a part of you that thinks somewhere along those lines too." 

"Sure," Peter conceded, "but doesn't keeping them around in spite of the danger of my work make me a little...selfish?" 

"I wrestled with that for a time as well," Drew explained, "but then I remember in Genesis how God said that it wasn't good for man to be alone. We weren't made to live in isolation, Spider-Man." 

"Yeah, but..." Peter started to offer something else before the pastor cut him off with a question. 

"Spider-Man, has there ever been a time in your own life when your loved ones were what kept you going?" 

Peter took a moment to think, but it didn't take long to think of a recent example. When he had been trapped under the rubble of Oscorp tower, just trying to keep it from collapsing on him and the man he was protecting, picturing his loved ones kept him going. Sure, he was also motivated by knowing someone else's life other than his own was also at stake, but it was the images of M.J, May and Ned that had got him through it. 

"Yes sir," Peter offered. 

"There you have it then," Drew said. "Spider-Man, one thing I've learned during my time in the ministry is this: you cannot work to save lives if you don't also have one of your own to live, and that means having people in your life who love and support you." 

Peter took a moment to process that last sentence as it hit him like a wave. He also recalled the captain's advice of holding on tight to his loved ones. He didn't have time to process this stuff too much, because he was suddenly alerted to a call from May. The sugar! 

Peter quickly thanked the pastor about 4 times before making a quick exit. As he made his way back to the apartment, he continued pouring over that sentence: "you cannot work to save lives if you don't have one of your own to live." Peter realized just how much he leaned on his loved ones for support; how many times he would've been a wreck if not for them. He quickened his pace, suddenly anxious to see everyone. He realized he had some real apologizing to do, starting with May. 

He finally made it to his bedroom window, quickly making his way in, changing out of his suit and into his normal clothes once more. He grabbed the sugar and ran down to the kitchen. Thankfully, nobody else was there yet, as M.J. and her mom were still running a couple errands they elected to go on as well. Setting the sugar down, he walked up and hugged May tightly. 

"You okay sweetheart?" May asked. 

"Yeah, May, or at least I will be," Peter said as he pulled away, suddenly needing to wipe away tears from his eyes. "I just need to say something: I am so sorry for how I've been acting. I just..." 

May pulled him into a hug of her own before he could finish. "I know Peter. It's okay. You're here now." For a moment, he and May just hugged each other before getting back to work on the preparations. 

Before long, everything was finished and everyone was there. After the meal, Peter took Ned and pulled him aside for a moment. 

"Hey man, I need to apologize," Peter said. 

"For what?" Ned questioned. 

"I know I pushed you guys away a lot during the whole Goblin thing, and even since then I've been distant. I was just scared about you guys not being safe, and I still am, but I know I can't let that rule me anymore." 

Ned nodded before offering his hand to initiate their secret handshake. "You're not gonna get rid of your guy in the chair that easily," Ned assured him, and they finished their handshake, pulling each other into a tight hug. 

"Thank you man," Peter said, once again finding himself fighting back tears. "You're the best friend a guy could ask for." 

"Yeah, I know," Ned calmly acknowledged, leading both of them to let out some much needed laughter. 

Next came M.J, but getting time alone with her proved more complicated than he expected, between them all playing white elephant and Morgan constantly wanting to talk to either one of them. Finally, he got a moment and told her he wanted to talk to her alone, so they stepped outside of the living room and into the hallway, Peter making sure they were far enough away from prying eyes and ears. 

"M.J. I....I need to apologize," Peter started. When she said nothing, instead looking at him intently, he continued. "Ever since the captain died, I...I've just been so scared." The tears were coming faster with her than with either of the others, and he sniffed to fight them back. "All I could think about was what if something happened to you because of me, and then something almost did and..." He couldn't fight the tears back anymore, and he lowered his voice as he continued, because he didn't trust it not to crack right now. "As I sought to protect you, I just ended up hurting you. It didn't register at the time, but I could see that you were hurting because you blamed yourself for what happened and I'm so sorry, M.J. You needed me, and I wasn't there for you." 

She remained silent, but he could see tears starting to form in her own eyes. For a moment, they both just stood there, with nothing being said between them. 

"M.J. please say something," Peter pleaded. "Call me a terrible boyfriend, call me a jerk, call me whatever, just sa..." 

He was cut off by her pressing her lips into his. It only lasted for a moment before she pulled away, but Peter felt a weight off his shoulders all the same. He just stared dumbfounded at his girlfriend for a moment. 

"You're not a terrible boyfriend Peter," she began. "You just...you always carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. I just don't want you to feel like you have to." 

"I don't know if that will ever change," Peter admitted, "but I do know this: I can do anything with you by my side, and that's a place I never intend to leave." 

"You're sure?" M.J. asked. 

Peter put his hand to the back of her head and pulled her close, pressing a kiss into her lips, trying to convey all the love he had for her through it before finally pulling back and looking her dead in the eyes. 

"Absolutely."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, I can't believe this story is done. I can't lie, while I had a blast writing it, it was also very emotionally exhausting! 
> 
> Thank you to all who have supported me in this story, especially to those who have left feedback in the comments. I truly appreciate every bit of it, however it comes out. 
> 
> For the record: this is not the end of this series, but this was the main point I had planned to get to for starters. Fear not, more will be written, and I already have some ideas. 
> 
> Once again, thank you to all who took the time to read this! 
> 
> Stay safe and healthy everyone! 
> 
> "Love is patient, love is kind..." 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

**Author's Note:**

> What did you guys think? Please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments. 
> 
> Thank you to all who have left comments, kudos, etc. on all my work up to this point. Your support is deeply appreciated! 
> 
> Stay safe and healthy, and happy Memorial Day! My prayers are with any of you who have lost loved ones during their time serving our country. May the Lord be with you today. 
> 
> ..."the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort..." 2 Corinthians 1:3-5


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